Maiden's Capriccio
by Meta Bunny
Summary: This is the story of a country of sights that can never be found in our world, of flying maidens, beautiful fireworks of death, deadly creatures that look like innocent girls and a shrine maiden named Reimu Hakurei. (a retelling of the Touhou series)
1. Before the Shrine Maiden

Far away from the reach of most and separated from the world, there exists an area of land; a country. Within this country exists many sights and entities that have long ago been forgotten by our world, and as such they have moved there for the continuation of their existence. This country is a near endless dimension, created long ago by ancient and powerful saints, a home to the gods and youkai.

There are humans that live there, some being people that are born there, live there and die there, whenever it would be of age or natural causes or just simply the other residents that aren't quite human as they usually appear. And there are other humans that appear there, taken in from our world, believed to have disappeared off the face of reality. In a sense, that assumption is correct. They usually either get eaten by the youkai shortly after arriving, but some are more lucky. The lucky ones either live a peaceful life in the village that houses most of the humans in this country, get eaten by the youkai later on, turn into youkai themselves where they live a long, long life, or a fourth option: they are sent back to our world.

Whilst the ways to return here after being sent there are small and sometimes difficult, they still exist.

The safest, easiest and most common method of leaving this place, if you desire to, is to get help from the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.

You must be confused on what a Hakurei is, aren't you? Well, ever since the creation of this land, there needed to be a power to maintain the border that separates them from us. This power was given to a certain bloodline of humans; the Hakurei bloodline. Their job is to simply keep the balance between humans and youkai strong, as well as to maintain the shrine that houses the god that grants them their power. Of course, all humans granted this power and this duty have to be female, hence the 'Shrine _Maiden_ ' in the title.

This is a country full of sights that can only be seen to be believed, an entirely different reality that would be adored by the active imagination. This country is Gensokyo, The Paradise of Fantasies.

* * *

There sat a shrine on the top of a large hill in Gensokyo; the Hakurei Shrine, once grand but slowly growing decrepit over the centuries that it has existed. There sat a little girl, her little feet dangling above the ground as she sat, waiting for her mummy to return. She was of moderate height, though maybe a bit on the shorter side. She has brown hair and eyes, with a big red ribbon on the back of her head and red tubes on her sidelocks. She was wearing a white kimono with a red hakama over it. She seemed to be the only person outside the shrine.

It was early morning, dew drops were on the grass that surrounded the shrine and the only sound outside of the gentle swish of the air from her feet was the fluttering of birds and the chirps of insects. And she sat with great boredom, still waiting for her mummy to come home. She is meant to be a trainee, the next generation of the Hakurei bloodline, but her training hasn't started yet. But it's no matter, her mummy is very strong and usually resolves all incidents easily.

 **The Young Shrine Maiden of Paradise**

 **Reimu Hakurei**

Reimu really missed her mum. It's not that she hates the guardian spirit of the shrine that has been with the Hakurei bloodline since their beginning, the same guardian spirit that is also looking after her, but she still misses her only know parent, nevertheless. She honestly couldn't wait until she starts training, then she can be strong and magical just like her mum, who she looks up to greatly.

She is, after all, a part of a bloodline of powerful humans. But it is unbeknownst to her, and most others at the moment, that she has latent potential that is more than exceptional for the Hakurei lineage.

The shrine doors slid open behind Reimu, the brown-eyed little girl looking behind herself to see an old turtle with a long, grey beard that was just inches above the boards of the shrine. Reimu recognised him well enough, he is the guardian spirit that has been with the Hakureis since the beginning. He was even around before the Hakurei family began, before even Gensokyo itself.

 **Ancient Vessel of Forgotten Knowledge**

 **Genji**

"Hey, Gramps." Reimu said cheerily, giving the old turtle a smile and a wave. Genji usually preferred to be spoken by his name, at least the name given to this physical form that he takes, but he found Reimu to be cute, especially since she is a little girl, so he would always let Reimu get away with calling him by that name.

"Good morning, Lady Reimu." Genji responded, doing a little bow with his old, rough head. The old turtle slowly walked over towards the little girl, sitting down next to her.

"When will Mummy be back?" Reimu asked, looking to her side where the giant turtle, so huge that she can even sit on him, as she has done in the past, was sitting.

Genji sighed, unsure of the answer himself. He is wise, very wise. In fact there are very few in Gensokyo that are smarter than him, though that border youkai would definitely be one of them. Still, it would be hard for even him to know. Reimu's mother has dealt with powerful youkai for even longer days than this, and yet she has always came back in one piece. And in his experience with the many shrine maidens that have came before her, they too have had to leave the shrine for a few days to deal with a massive threat against Gensokyo, and they usually come back alive. Though not all Hakureis that go on missions to stop youkai that last for days survive. If anything, it's what causes most of them to perish.

There was no certain answer, even for Genji.

The turtle moves his old eyes to face towards the torii gate at the entrance of the shrine, seeing something beginning to appear. Reimu had gotten excited as she saw the Yin-Yang Orb; the powerful magical item filled with tremendous spiritual, holy and divine power and the greatest treasure of the Hakurei family. But that wasn't the reason why Reimu, the young maiden who isn't even in training yet. No, it was because her mum was always nearby whenever the orb was floating or not at the shrine in general. Reimu raced towards the floating holy object, hoping to see her only known parent.

"Mummy~!" Reimu exclaimed in excitement. The little girl almost leaped down the stairs that lead up to the Hakurei Shrine, the only reason that she didn't end up falling down the stairs being that the back of her kimono was abruptly grabbed by something. Reimu was balancing on her toe on the top step, seeing the crazy long stairs that lead up to her home, being pulled back and landing on her butt from the unknown person. Reimu looked back, seeing that the person that saved her from falling down all those stairs was Genji, the turtle most likely managing to grab her kimono with his mouth.

Reimu looked around, trying to see if she can spot the familiar figure of her mum, but it was to no avail.

"Where's Mummy?" Reimu asked, starting to become anxious. The Yin-Yang Orb has _never_ floated anywhere without her present, it was unnatural and had struck her heart with an arrow of fear that she couldn't fully understand.

Genji stayed silent, looking at the soon-to-be shrine maiden with sympathy. Genji couldn't deny it, he has seen it many times before in the past and has a feeling that he'll see it again many times in the future. If the Yin-Yang Orb returns to the Hakurei Shrine without the shrine maiden present, then it means that either she is in great trouble and needs another's help, or she has died. Genji looked back at the large yin-yang as it floated in front of him, pulsing with holy energy. Genji stretched his head out towards the floating item, the turtle pressing his head against it, hearing and feeling a unison of a female voice and a male voice whisper to him what he feared.

She's dead.

On the west of Gensokyo, a portal to another dimension had opened. There lived a powerful entity that wanted only death and destruction, and it was seeking Gensokyo as its latest playground. Reimu's mother, Aimi Hakurei, being the current shrine maiden that guards Gensokyo, had to go there and stop it. She was powerful and determined, but that monster was overpowering her. Knowing it was the only way to save Gensokyo, Aimi used an attack that destroyed the monster, but it had also killed her in the ensuing blast.

Genji made a deep sigh full of grief, both because of the death of another maiden that he had became close to, and because he knew that Reimu would also become overcame.

* * *

It was a few days after the tragic news of her mother's death, Reimu was outside, sweeping leaves, calm and quiet. Aimi's death was left with little mourning outside of Reimu, she wasn't popular among humans nor youkai. The shrine maiden to-be was feeling happier now than she did when Genji told her the heart-breaking news. She wasn't as happy as she was before, but she knew that this would happen eventually. She was offered the chance to live with her father in the Outside World and escape this grief, but she stayed in Gensokyo.

Her little hands tightened around her little broom, it still hurt, but she is healing from it.

Reimu felt something bump against her side softly, the little girl turning her head to see Genji. "Oh, hi Gramps." Reimu said, her voice was calm though she had a small smile on her face. "Is there something that you want to tell me?"

"It is time for your training to begin." Genji said, the Yin-Yang Orb floating above the ground and dropping in between the ancient turtle and the maiden in training.

"R-really?" Reimu responded, she didn't think that she would start training so soon after...

"I'm sorry, I wish I could give you a few more days to heal, but that kind of hope isn't always smiled upon in this world. Look at the Great Hakurei Barrier." Genji said, the large turtle moving his body around towards the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu, too, had turned to see the shrine, her eyes widening as she saw an invisible barrier of sorts.

"Gramps...!" Reimu breathed in shock. "What is...?"

"It's the Great Hakurei Barrier, Reimu." Genji answered. "Because of your mother's death, her powers as a Hakurei Shrine Maiden have been bequeathed to you. The entire fate of the barrier, and subsequently Gensokyo, now rests on you. I wish that we could have waited until you were older, the more appropriate age to begin your training, but a certain someone has told me that it has to begin now. I'm sorry..."

Reimu was silent, looking down at her broom. "If Mummy was still alive, she would be happy for me to become a shrine maiden." Reimu said, looking up at Genji, smiling at him. "I want to become a shrine maiden, I want to become like Mummy and exterminate all of the bad youkai."

" _This child is so cheerful, I hope she doesn't lose it like the others._ " Genji thought as Reimu hugged his neck. As the now shrine maiden in training was hugging Genji, he saw a feminine figure standing at the torii gate, the certain someone who had forced Genji to operate under this decision. The important thing about her is that she had long hair and eyes that were like dark gold, with many red ribbons wrapped around her long hair. She simply smiled at Genji, making a little wave of her hand and vanishing like she was no longer there.

Oh, how Genji is certain that she'll be keeping a close eye on things. She has since the beginning.

* * *

Deep beneath the Earth, in a terrain dimension of hellfire and brimstone, there sat a towering castle of awe-inspiring size. Within this castle was a throne, a giant throne that at least ten fully grown and fully developed humans could sit and maybe even lie on. And on this throne was a giant woman. She had ruby eyes that were red like the very fires that surround the dimension she now resides in, hair as black as night that was pulled back and kept in place by a red ribbon on the back of her head. She was wearing red robes with a white trim and grey sleeves. But what was her most noticeable feature, outside of her imposing size, was a large, red horn that was protruding from the centre of her forehead. She also wore a pendant around her neck, hanging from the pendant was a human-sized bronze disk with the image of a young girl engraved on it, the young girl on the disk has long hair, closed eyes and a content expression on her face. She was wearing a suit and tie, her hands in front of her chest with a light blue orb floating between them, though she isn't important for the time being.

 **Astral Knight**

 **Konngara**

Konngara had her head slumped against her hand as the elbow connected to it was lying on the arm of her throne, the former Diva of the Mountain feeling like Hell was starting to become boring. Well, her section of Hell that she was given. Hecatia is probably never bored with all of those Hells and Otherworlds that she gets to rule over.

Konngara sighed, where's Suika and Yuugi when she needs them?

The large doors of Konngara's castle opened up, the Astral Knight taking more notice of the world around her. She was approached by a tiny humanoid creature, having the physical body of a little girl, and the size of one too. She was wearing a little, blue dress and had long blonde hair, her eyes like sapphire. She was quite like a fairy in appearance, and would be confused as such if it weren't for the bat-like wings that she had and the horns on her head.

The little devil quickly flew up towards Konngara, floating in front of the giant's face like a little fly. "Lady Konngara, The Astral Knight, Queen of Lesser Hell, we have received important information regarding Gensokyo." The little devil said, her voice high-pitched and full of respect for the giant in front of her.

Konngara raised an eyebrow in interest. News regarding Gensokyo was hardly ever considered to be of any importance in Lesser Hell, and with everything that has _not_ been happening in the hellfire dimension, it could be something of interest. Though, with how hard it is for information to travel from Gensokyo to other Otherworlds, this information could be days old and maybe even no longer relevant in the Paradise of Fantasy.

Still...

"Speak now, servant." Konngara responded, the vibrations coming form her voice being so strong that the fairy-like devil in front of her was nearly blown away.

"T-the current Hakurei Shrine Maiden, Aimi Hakurei, has died in battle." The little devil responded.

Konngara was taken by surprise; Aimi, the current shrine maiden of the Hakurei, and the one that has shown more promise than any other, has died? At least... at least she has perished doing what she loves: protecting Gensokyo. Konngara waved her hand silently, the tiny devil flying out of her castle immediately. With full certainty that no one else was in her throne room, the giant oni placed her eyes down to the hand mirror lying down on the other arm of her throne. She had a hunch that a certain something would happen in relation to the current news she has heard, and it would come from that hand mirror.

As she had suspected, Konngara's hand mirror began to emit a purple glow from the glass. The giant oni sighed, piking up the mirror by the handle and pressing her finger down on a amethyst diamond that was just below the glass. The hand mirror flew out of Konngara's hand, transforming into a giant full body mirror that was big enough to show her reflection. And it did show Konngara's reflection as she stood up, the reflection soon swirling around and changing into a purple colour. A silhouette appeared on the mirror, having a feminine shape and seemingly giant wings connected to it.

Konngara sighed again. "I knew you'd call me when I started hearing about this news of death." The giant oni said, feeling more annoyed than anything. "So what is it that you want from me?"

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hello. This is basically a fanfic that is the entire Touhou series (both the PC-98 and Windows era), but rewritten by me, as a fanfic, of course. This will include both eras. This is mostly inspired by _Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream_ by _Private Winters_ , though this will have my own things in it.**

 **So what do you think of that? I think Reimu might have been out of character, but she is meant to be really young in this first chapter, so she should eventually develop into the more apathetic-like shrine maiden that she is.**

 **This is kind of meant to be more like a prologue than a first chapter, but I felt like some things needed to be put out of the way before this story actually starts. The next chapter should deal with Reimu's training (and how she got her purple hair and eyes), as well as maybe a battle between her and SinGyoku.**

 **This is a lot shorter than the usual chapter word count that I do, but I'm okay with it. Bye.**


	2. Twin Hakurei Guardians

Reimu was staring angrily at the Yin-Yang Orb, trying to make it float. She focussed more of her energy into the orb, trying to make it float, or shoot out a piece of danmaku or just do something. But it was all fruitless, the ancient Hakurei treasure wouldn't budge or do anything at all.

"It's hopeless!" Reimu groaned, the small child staggering down, laying on her front side. It has been a few months, maybe even a few years, since Genji has began teaching her the necessary training for being a shrine maiden. She's managed to learn some of the basics, she can write and make ofuda, as well as throw them, and she has learnt how to wield the gohei. According to Gramps, she has shown incredible skill and potential and has already learned most of the basics. And thus she has gone onto one of the more complicated abilities of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, the usage of a power that only exists in those of the Hakurei bloodline: controlling the Yin-Yang Orb.

As seen here, she wasn't doing so good.

Genji appeared next to Reimu, the ancient turtle-like being watching over her as he taught her all the necessary training. "It's okay, Lady Reimu." Genji consoled, the brown-haired girl looking up at him. "To be honest, you're a few months before your predecessors when it comes to the training for using the Yin-Yang Orb, so if anything you are still proving yourself to be a great trainee."

Reimu looked up at Genji miserably, the shrine maiden trainee sitting back up. She turned her brown eyes back towards the Yin-Yang, her hand clutching her gohei tightly in anger, the young maiden whacking the orb with the stick. Neither items broke or shattered in the slightest. Genji noticed all this frustration, the ancient turtle musing on why her lack of success, despite him telling her that she is ahead of her ancestors, was getting on her nerves. She has shown to succeed with the rest of her training with flying colours, and most of her success in being earlier than the past Hakurei shrine maidens can come from the fact that she has started earlier.

All the other Hakureis were either already trainees or fully fledged shrine maidens when their mothers had died. None of them had to start training at an age as young as Reimu's.

Genji could sounds coming from Reimu's throat, the guardian spirit looking to see that Reimu is once again trying to focus her power into the Yin-Yang Orb. From the massive vein popping out of her forehead and the veins appearing in her eyes, it looked like Reimu was going to strain herself by focussing her power into the Orb.

"Lady Reimu, I believe that it enough training for today." Genji said, trying to make the aforementioned little girl stop before ends up damaging herself, physically or spiritually. Reimu didn't stop or waver in her focussing, still trying to make the Yin-Yang Orb float. Or do something of any kind. Genji was feeling worried, trying to strain one's spiritual or magical energy can have dangerous effects on both the body and the soul. And those effects are at their worst if the person being effected is a young child. And Reimu being the last hope for the Great Hakurei Barrier, and Gensokyo entirely, had only added more fear to Genji, not that he wasn't already fearing for her, as he cared greatly for all of the Hakurei girls and women. "Lady Hakurei, please. I don't want you to accidently..."

Genji's words died down in his throat as the Yin-Yang Orb suddenly glowed with a pulse of holy power. The holy treasure began to shake, like there was an oncoming earthquake heading for the Hakurei Shrine, holy power pulsing in and out from within the relic. The Yin-Yang Orb glowed, floating steadily up, slow but still noticeably moving. Genji was at a lost for words; Reimu was much younger than her predecessors, and she was already achieving something on her first day in her training for the orb when everyone else before her needed about one or two weeks before they could do this. Just what is her potential?

Reimu started to strain herself less, smiling with an open mouth and bright eyes as the Yin-Yang floated in front of her.

Suddenly a massive cloud of purple smoke exploded form the Yin-Yang Orb, completely engulfing the top of the hill where the shrine is located. Genji coughed and gagged as the purple smoke kept entering his lungs. Even though his form was more like a physical vessel for him, he still had to succumb to the limitations and whatnot brought upon by having a physical form. The purple smoke began to fade away, allowing Genji to see and breath properly. The old turtle looked down at the ground in front of him, seeing the Yin-Yang Orb lying down, not an iota of its holy and divine power radiating from it.

More of the smoke cleared, revealing Reimu. Genji's eyes bulged out in massive surprise towards the sight before him. "By the name of The Dragon..." Genji muttered.

Reimu tilted her inquisitively, confused as to why the centuries old turtle-like guardian of the Hakurei family was looking at her like she grew a second head. "What is it, Gramps?" Reimu asked in sincere confusion and curiosity. "You're looking at me very weirdly."

"Your... your... and your... purple..." Genji said, still trying to comprehend what he was seeing; he had never ever heard of the Yin-Yang Orbs being capable of _that_. Then again, what real purpose would that have, in any shape or form? There were things about the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb that confused and mystified even Genji. "Just... Please go to the pond and look at your reflection, Lady Reimu."

Confused by her teacher's odd answer, Reimu ran to the cheery grove behind the shrine, looking into the little pond located next to the grove. Reimu's eyes widened and bulged out as she saw her reflection in the water; her eyes and hair had turned purple. The little girl screamed in surprise.

Genji approached Reimu slowly (due to him being a turtle, at least physically), the little girl still surprised by the sight. "I know, it is most peculiar - even for Gensokyo." The guardian commented, looking into the reflection. "The Yin-Yang Orb has many strange capabilities among its more well-known and powerful ones, but it still has so many surprises that even I have yet to fully understand."

"Do you know how I can turn my hair and eyes back to normal?" Reimu asked, looking at Genji.

"I am sorry, Lady Reimu, but as far as I am certain, there is no known way to turn your hair and eyes back to normal, either with the help of the Yin-Yang Orb, or with different methods." Genji answered, turning his head from side to side. "However, I do believe that they should return to normal eventually, after time has passed."

Reimu was silent, looking at her reflection again, focussing on her now purple hair and eyes. The shrine maiden trainee suddenly smiled. "Actually, I think I like it." Reimu said. "I look like a magical girl~."

"You're not a magical girl, you're a shrine maiden." Genji said, almost sounding like he was berating Reimu with his tone of voice.

* * *

Reimu was sleeping in the shrine, her little form allowing her to sleep comfortably and snuggly underneath her kotatsu. Genji has told her many times that it isn't really recommended to sleep underneath a kotatsu, but she has done it many times in the past and nothing bad has happened to her from it. Maybe he just means for when she grows older and taller. Oh well, until then she slept underneath her kotatsu, especially since her blankets and the shine's walls offered little protection against the cold weather.

It has been a few days since the Yin-Yang Orb had somehow changed the colour of her hair and eyes, but everything else in Reimu's life has been normal. At least to how 'normal' things can be in Gensokyo. She has gotten a little better at controlling the mystical object, though she hasn't really been able to make it float like last time. She is able to channel divine, holy into it, and she can shrink it down to the size where it fits in her hand, and make it regrow to normal size, but that is the last of it. Genji still praises her for her skills and reminds her that she is excelling in her capabilities, but she still isn't all to happy about her results. She wishes that she was as talented as her mum.

Aimi Hakurei could do many magical things with the Yin-Yang Orb, like turn it into two smaller orbs, even four or eight orbs, and shoot magical bullets out of it, and many other stuff. Reimu wants to do stuff like that with the Yin-Yang Orbs. She can't wait until the day.

The purple-haired trainee had remained asleep on her own in the shrine, Genji always slept in the pond. Or at least he always disappeared into the pond whenever Reimu went to sleep. She was well in her dreams when something from outside her kotatsu started glowing. Reimu opened her eyes, the little girl's vision blurry as she slowly woke up. She saw a glowing sphere from outside her kotatsu, crawling out from under it, finding the spherical glowing object to be the Yin-Yang Orb.

Reimu blinked in confusion, shrinking the Yin-Yang Orb to a size where it could fit in her hand, picking it up and looking at it curiously. The Yin-Yang Orb suddenly pulled Reimu to the shrine's doors, the tiny thing acting like a powerful magnet. Reimu let go of the orb, the ancient and mysterious object, flinging itself against the shrine doors, falling down harmlessly as it made contact with the paper structure. Confused even more by the weird reaction of the Yin-Yang Orb, Reimu slid the door open, seeing the night of Gensokyo and feeling the cold air that it brought in.

Reimu shivered, hugging herself in the hope that it would help her kimono warm her up. The shrine maiden trainee looked at the torii gate at the end of the shrine, on top of the steps that lead to the area of worship. The small space behind that gate, at least from Reimu's perspective, had dissolved, showing a land of rocky ground, red sky and fire.

Reimu tilted her head in confusion, the young maiden slowly approaching the torii gate. She stopped in front of the giant, red gate, feeling more and more of the heat that came from the terrain area. Reimu stopped in front of the torii gate, seeing that the new area was seemingly only in the gate. The trainee looked over the side of the gate, finding that the mysterious area had also seemingly existed through the gate. Reimu focussed back on the gate, many thought blurring in her still relatively young mind.

Reimu heard an odd sound behind her that was a little like gurgling, the purple-haired maiden looking back to see the Yin-Yang Orb, now at full size, rolling towards her. It continued to roll, changing its course as it went in front of her. A massive light then built up in the Yin-Yang Orb, causing Reimu to walk back as she covered her eyes with her arms. Reimu continued to step backwards as the bright light didn't dim, almost falling onto her butt as her heel whacked against the small steps connected to the shrine porch. Reimu may have stopped, but her arms continued to cover her eyes until the bright light was gone.

Reimu moved her arms away, her purple eyes widening as she saw a giant yin-yang floating over the Yin-Yang Orb. One side of the yin-yang was brown while the other was transparent, red marking covered the entire sphere. It was silent, not doing any action except for floating there, bobbing up and down slightly. There was still something about it that made Reimu feel unnerved.

Reimu didn't know if it was a youkai or not. There were many things in Gensokyo that were given the name youkai upon being beyond the norm, but it just came from the Yin-Yang Orb, a holy relic that is meant to hurt if not outright destroy youkai. If that wasn't the case, then it shouldn't be a youkai...

"What are you?" Reimu asked. The giant, floating yin-yang began to spin around, changing shape and colour, looking like clay as it changed form. The yin-yang now looked like a priestess in red robes with long, red hair and red eyes and horns on the top of her head.

"I am Sin." The priestess said in a calm voice, and emotionless expression on her face, seemingly standing in the air with her hands pressed together in a prayer. The priestess' form then changed, to Reimu's surprise and confusion, changing in a male priest with blue robes, a giant blue hat and red eyes.

"And I am Gyoku." The male priest said, sitting down in the air with his legs crossed, his hands pressed together in prayer, much like Sin. Gyoku then changed shape and form again, the exact same way how the yin-yang changed into Sin, and how Sin changed into him.

"And we are SinGyoku." The yin-yang said, it's voice a unison of Sin's and Gyoku's voice. "We are one and the same, twins that are eternally one being. We exist to guard the Hakurei maidens that wield the Yin-Yang Orbs, we are the Twin Hakurei Guardians."

 **Twin Hakurei Guardians**

 **SinGyoku**

Reimu raised an eye, still somewhat confused. "Twin Guardians?" The shrine maiden trainee responded.

"Yes." SinGyoku answered, the giant yin-yang-like entity changing into its Sin form, the priestess form still standing in the air with the same position for her hands. "Long ago, we were both human. We were twins without any magic or any powers whatsoever, we had no parents and were constantly on the brink of death, barely able to survive with what little food and housing we could attain. We always stood by each other, no matter what. So when we were lost in the Magic Forest and encountered by a wild youkai that wanted us to be her meal, we held hands and accepted death together."

Sin then changed into Gyoku, the male form still sitting cross-legged in the air, hands in prayer like his sister. "Before the youkai could fill her stomach with our corpses, she was destroyed by the current shrine maiden at the time. She was strong and kind-hearted, she knew that we had absolutely nothing to offer, but she still saved us. And then she took us to the shrine, and she managed to feed, wash and clothe us, as the shrine was much more popular back in her time. Our time."

Gyoku turned back into Sin, the red-haired female closing her eyes as she managed to more solemn. "We dedicated ourselves to the shrine, the maiden and Genji had accepted us. We could never achieve the power that the shrine maiden had, as those powers are strictly for those of the Hakurei bloodline. Though there are some ways, mostly ways related to magic, that can be used by human, youkai, or something else to gain those powers, powers that include using the Yin-Yang Orb. We never dream of attempting those methods, as they all result in killing the Hakurei member."

Sin turned back into Gyoku, his eyes closed like his sister's. "We served the shrine and its god for years. Then one day, the shrine was attacked by a wicked spirit that has been the enemy of the Hakurei family for many years. In the ensuing battle, Sin and I were fatally wounded, and as a result we had died."

Gyoku turned back into the yin-yang form of him and his sister, SinGyoku. "We expected to pass over to the Netherworld, however we found ourselves in the Yin-Yang Orb." SinGyoku spoke, its voice a perfect unison of the brother and sister that it is. "We were blessed by the Hakurei God, given the ability to help aid the shrine and its maidens after death. We became the guardians of the Yin-Yang Orb and of the shrine maidens whom wield it."

"So... are you two my protectors?" Reimu asked.

"That depends." SinGyoku answered, the yin-yang-like spirit spinning around from where it stayed in the air. "In order for a shrine maiden to truly use the power of the Yin-Yang Orb, and to see if she is worthy of protecting Gensokyo, she must prove herself. Reimu, a portal to a Lesser Hell, otherwise known as Jigoku, has opened within the torii gate behind us. If that portal isn't closed, then the creatures of Jigoku will come into Gensokyo and wreck whatever havoc they desire. The way for you to close that portal would be to defeat the one who opened it, Konngara; one of the Four Devas of the Mountain, the ruler of Jigoku."

"Are you saying... that as the Hakurei shrine maiden I must go to Jigoku and defeat Konngara?" Reimu asked, the trainee quickly running into the shrine before running out shortly after, holding her gohei and some ofuda in hand.

SinGyoku turned back into the red-haired priestess, Sin. This time, her hands weren't clasped in prayer, but instead she had her arms crossed over her chest, turning her head from side to side. "You are half correct there. You are only a trainee, not a full shrine maiden yet. You're not even fully proven of yourself to us yet." Sin said, the woman bending down and touching the Yin-Yang Orb beneath her, the sphere treasure turning into the small size that Reimu usually uses to carry it. Sin picked up the Yin-Yang Orb, tossing it over to the purple-eyed trainee, the little girl barely catching it as she wasn't warned about the action. "If you wish to go to Jigoku and stop Konngara, you must prove yourself to us..."

Sin then changed into Gyoku. "And if you want to prove yourself to us, you must defeat us first." The cross-legged priest said, his hands letting go of each other, his arms shooting out to his sides, creating a translucent, blue square barrier that trapped him and Reimu in it, the square barrier between the torii gate and the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu was surprised, the girl watching as Gyoku turned back into SinGyoku.

"Do you accept this challenge?" The yin-yang spirit asked calmly.

Reimu was silent, looking down at the gohei in her hands. If what SinGyoku has said is true, then the creatures of Jigoku could be a danger to Gensokyo. Even though Reimu is only a trainee, she's the only Hakurei shrine maiden that Gensokyo has. In fact, as far as she is sure, she's the only shrine maiden that Gensokyo has in general. She's the only one that can save Gensokyo from the creatures of Jigoku. Reimu gave a brave glare towards SinGyoku, the ancient creature not reacting to her glare.

"I accept." Reimu answered, pointing her gohei towards SinGyoku as she gripped some of her ofuda in her other hand.

"Very well." SinGyoku responded. The giant yin-yang spun around and suddenly shot itself towards Reimu. The shrine maiden trainee ran away, rolling against the ground as she barely dodged the giant yin-yang, the thing being even bigger than her. Reimu got back up onto her feet as SinGyoku stopped upon hitting the blue barrier, the spirit quickly spinning again as it reeled up to shot at Reimu again. The purple-haired shrine maiden in training threw her ofuda at SinGyoku, the paper talismans bouncing of the twin guardians pitifully. SinGyoku shot towards Reimu as a rolling ball once again, the shrine maiden trainee sliding out of the way, once again throwing ofuda at SinGyoku. Reimu gritted her teeth as the paper charms once again did nothing. Dread grew in Reimu's heart, is she too weak to make it as a shrine maiden? Has she failed as a Hakurei?

"Use the Yin-Yang Orb." SinGyoku said as it stopped attacking Reimu, floating still in the air for a moment. "Your skill and power isn't great enough yet for your ofuda to hurt stronger supernatural entities like us. You need to use the Yin-Yang Orb to hurt and attack us."

Reimu froze, the trainee reaching into her sleeve where she put the Yin-Yang Orb. Reimu pulled out the treasure, looking up from it to SinGyoku. "How do I use it against you?" Reimu asked.

"That is more _you_ to figure out." SinGyoku said, the yin-yang spirit spinning towards Reimu again. SinGyoku grazed against Reimu's side as the little girl barely dodged; she needs to learn how to use the Yin-Yang Orb against SinGyoku before it is too late. Reimu placed the Yin-Yang Orb in front of her, using her powers as a Hakurei maiden to will it to grow bigger, back to its regular size. Reimu then tried to focus on her connection with the Yin-Yang Orb, her link with the mystical object, seeing if she can make it do anything else other than change size.

SinGyoku was spinning around again, though this time instead of shooting towards Reimu, it decided to shoot small, white, round magic bullets towards Reimu. They were coming at fast speeds, the shrine maiden trainee had panicked, throwing ofuda towards the oncoming pellets. The ofuda destroyed the pellets, the paper talismans continuing to shoot through the air and hit SinGyoku, still as powerless against them as usual. Reimu continued to focus her energy on the Yin-Yang Orb, trying to make it do something. Maybe it could shoot its own magic bullets towards SinGyoku or enchant her ofuda further to hurt SinGyoku.

Speaking of, the yin-yang guardian spirit was shooting towards Reimu again, this time managing to hit her. The purple-haired maiden had flung around the little arena that she and SinGyoku are in, her back slamming against the barrier, landing roughly on her butt. The Yin-Yang Orb rolled up to Reimu, stopping at her side. Reimu noticed the ancient treasure, feeling her blood boil in anger as it didn't help her against SinGyoku. With an angry yell, Reimu whacked the Yin-Yang Orb with her gohei. Reimu's eyes immediately widened as she just realised that she hit the Yin-Yang Orb, the greatest and most powerful treasure ever known to the Hakurei Shrine. The sphere treasure went high into the air, bouncing off the ground as it hit against it, hitting SinGyoku.

"Ow." SinGyoku said, the impact from the Yin-Yang Orb hurting and damaging them.

The Yin-Yang Orb rolled back towards Reimu, the ancient treasure undamaged. "Whoa, it worked and it didn't even scratch the Yin-Yang Orb." Reimu commented, picking up the large yin-yang, finding that it has suddenly became weightless.

"A bit of an unorthodox method to use, but still an effective one nevertheless." SinGyoku commented. Reimu looked back at the twin guardians, for some reason it felt like it was smirking at her, even though it had no mouth. How is SinGyoku able to speak without a mouth? Reimu can't hear the twins' voices in her head, they come from the yin-yang. And they use their mouths when they take their individual forms. "Though, considering that the last time you tried to make the Yin-Yang Orb do anything, you had made your hair and eyes turn purple, maybe such a method can work for you."

SinGyoku shot towards Reimu again, the shrine maiden whacking the Yin-Yang Orb towards it again. This time the spirit had dodged, Reimu ran out of the way and towards the Hakurei treasure, the sphere ricocheting off of the barrier that continued to surround Reimu and SinGyoku. Reimu got behind the Yin-Yang Orb, or at least what she considered to be the behind of it, whacking it once again at SinGyoku, this time while it is looking. Or Reimu had at least assumed that it wasn't looking, the twins has no visible eyes in this form.

The Yin-Yang Orb hit SinGyoku again, the spirit turning back into Sin as it ricocheted off her. "You are doing well, Lady Reimu." Sin said, not sounding particularly proud or happy, though there was a faint sense of both of them in her voice. Sin raised one of her hands up into the air, her hand glowing, two rows of white bullets shooting out of her hand, the bullets beginning to home in on Reimu. The trainee threw her ofuda towards the bullets, managing to destroy some of them, though more and more rows kept on shooting towards her from the constant stream coming from Sin's hand. Reimu threw her ofuda towards the bullets at a faster rate, but they were beginning to close in on her, the magical pellets hitting her square in the chest.

Reimu made a yelp of pain. The pain brought down onto her was more than most girls her age could take, but Reimu is a shrine maiden, a Hakurei shrine maiden (technically, she's still a trainee), so she didn't let that attack defeat her.

"Colour me impressed." Sin said, still keeping an impassive expression and voice, the priestess having ceased using her spell when the bullets started to hit her. "That attack is usually too much for most fairies and weaker youkai. However, you still need to defeat us to prove yourself to be strong enough to face Konngara."

Sin then outstretched a hand towards Reimu, luminous, light blue fireballs appearing around the red-haired priestess and shooting towards Reimu. Reimu threw ofuda towards the fireballs, only for them to burn upon contact. The fireballs closed in on Reimu, the trainee grazing against them as she dodged. Reimu swung her gohei towards the fireballs as more flew towards her, the wooden wand hitting away the magic fireballs. Reimu quickly commanded the Yin-Yang Orb to roll towards her, the shrine maiden trainee hitting the holy treasure with the same wooden instrument that she used on the fireballs, sending the Yin-Yang Orb flying towards Sin, hitting her square in the face.

Sin made a yell of pain and landed on her back, the woman getting back on her feet before once again levitating above the ground. "You fight well, Lady Reimu." Sin complimented in her monotone voice, the corners of her impassive mouth turning upwards slightly, like she was going to smile. "However, my brother wishes to play. His attacks are different from my own."

Sin transformed into Gyoku, the brother of the twin spirits keeping an emotionless mask of an expression on his face, much like his sister. Gyoku kept his hands pressed together like usual while keeping a stern face, Reimu wasn't sure about what attack he would use, but she knows that she must be evasive. Little white balls, like the ones that Sin shot out of her hand earlier ago, began to appear around Gyoku, though they stayed floating in the mid-air. Gyoku's eyes widened, though his expression remained stern, the surrounding white balls now flying towards Reimu.

The shrine maiden trainee whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards Gyoku before running out of the way, knowing that she is basically just a target if she doesn't run around the little arena he created.

Remaining cross-legged, Gyoku tilted his body as the Yin-Yang Orb came close, the mystic sphere that usually houses the spirit of him and his sister grazing past his cheek. Gyoku kept his red eyes on Reimu, keeping sight of the shrine maiden trainee as she ran. Reimu didn't give much thought to the male priest spirit's stare, stopping as the Yin-Yang Orb began rolling towards her. Reimu stopped, confident that she would whack the Yin-Yang Orb again, only to see something strange in the peripherals of her vision. Reimu looked, sucking in the air through her teeth as she saw that the pellets that Gyoku had sent towards her were following her. The shrine maiden reached into her sleeves, throwing ofuda towards the bullets, destroying them.

Reimu looked back towards the Yin-Yang Orb... it hit her square in the forehead.

"Oooohhhhh… aohhhhhh… aaahhhhhh…" Reimu said as the Yin-Yang Orb bounced of from her forehead, feeling dizzy from the powerful force of the attack that made her brain feel like it was bouncing around in her skull. "Pichuun~!"

Gyoku was caught by surprise, the spirit thinking that she would have hit the ball again before it hit her. She was honestly the most surprising and interesting of the shrine maidens. She is also admittedly more fun. Gyoku regained his composure, keeping the prayer position of his hands strong as Reimu regained lucidity.

Reimu eyed the Yin-Yang Orb as it continued to bounce around the barriered area, starting to make smaller and smaller bounces as it was losing momentum. The trainee knew that she must be more careful of the ancient treasure, lest she wants it to hit her in the head again. Reimu looked back at Gyoku, seeing that he was using the homing bullet attack again. Reimu ran to the Yin-Yang Orb, whacking it towards Gyoku again. The Yin-Yang Orb collided with Gyoku's bullets, the same magical bullets becoming destroyed the Yin-Yang Orb continued to fly through them. Gyoku had managed to once again dodge the orb, much to Reimu's chagrin.

The shrine maiden threw ofuda towards Gyoku, the priest spirit effortlessly swatting them away. Reimu eyed the Yin-Yang Orb as it was coming towards Gyoku from behind, having bounced off a wall. Reimu smirked, leaving Gyoku confused for a few seconds before the Yin-Yang Orb hit him in the back of the head. The spirit lurched forwards slightly, his hands separating as he was taken by surprise from the attack.

"It seems that you are already teaching yourself some new tricks. That can be useful when fighting sneaky youkai." Gyoku commented calmly, rubbing the back of his head. The male spirit slammed his hands together into their usual prayer position, turning back into SinGyoku.

The giant yin-yang spun around again, though this time instead of shooting towards Reimu like before it shot those same white pellets towards her. Reimu threw her ofuda towards the pellets, cutting through them, the paper charms still powerless against SinGyoku as they bounced off. Reimu ducked as the Yin-Yang Orb flew past her, almost hitting her in the side of the head.

SinGyoku continued to aim their pellets towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee running along the arena that Gyoku created to try to get out of their aim. Reimu skidded along the ground, kicking the Yin-Yang Orb as she passed it by, the yin-yang bouncing off the barrier and hitting SinGyoku.

A flash of light came from SinGyoku, the spirit disappearing, the blue barrier fading away into nothing. Reimu blinked in confusion, wondering where SinGyoku vanished to. "Sin? Gyoku?" Reimu called out, finding no reply whatsoever. "SinGyoku?"

The Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb rolled towards Reimu before mysteriously stopping in front of her, an image of Sin and Gyoku appearing. "Congratulations, Lady Reimu. You have proven yourself." Sin said, her hands folded in front of her. The priestess spirit was now smiling, and her voice sounded a lot more happy than how emotionless it was when she was fighting Reimu. "You have defeated us."

"We have now returned to the Yin-Yang Orb, as you have proven yourself to be a strong and worthy shrine maiden trainee." Gyoku said, standing up and smiling, though his hands were still together in prayer. "Now that we have returned to the Yin-Yang Orb, its offensive power should be stronger for the method you use with it. It should now be easier for you to defeat Konngara, though such a feat can never be called easy."

"We will secure you information and directions, Lady Reimu." Sin said. "Know that we are on your side."

Reimu smiled, the images of Sin and Gyoku disappearing. The shrine maiden trainee made the Yin-Yang Orb shrink, picking it up and walking to the torii gate and the portal inside of it, passing through and entering Jigoku. Reimu was almost brought into shock from the drastic change of temperature, the hot heat of Jigoku being greatly different from the cold chill of Gensokyo's night air. Reimu walked forwards, only going a few feet further into Jigoku before the Yin-Yang Orb started to glow again.

Reimu noticed the glowing coming from her yin-yang, pulling the small ball up to her face, the image of Gyoku appearing atop of the yin-yang. "Before you go any further, Lady Reimu, I advise that you should put a barrier around the opening." Gyoku said calmly. Reimu turned back to the gateway that she used to cross between dimensions, from Gensokyo to Jigoku, finding a torii gate that was large and red, though it also looked damaged, Beyond the torii gate was just a vast piece of red land with cracks in it, not another speck of life, whenever it would be plant life or a demon in sight. Though there were a lot of flames. "Even with you in here, the demons of Jigoku can still pass through the open portal. You must put a barrier around it so no demons can't pass through."

"Uh... Genji hasn't taught me about putting up barriers." Reimu admitted, feeling a little embarrassed about the truth.

"I see." Gyoku responded plainly. "Luckily for you, I am proficient in sealing and barrier techniques. Just follow my instruction."

Gyoku made Reimu pull out an inkless paper charm, the shrine maiden trainee writing down some specific kanji used for barrier creation. Per Gyoku's command, Reimu held the new paper charm in front of the torii gate. The paper charm began to float on its own, glowing a little blue light. Translucent, blue rectangles that were identical to the paper charm began to appear connected to the charm, covering the portal to Gensokyo.

"That should hold for a while, though after a long time it will fade. And if it's hit with a powerful enough force, it will break." Gyoku said, his image beginning to disappear back into the Yin-Yang Orb. "It is best to defeat Konngara as soon as possible."

Reimu turned around, seeing little dots in the distance that were growing bigger, their forms becoming clearer as they came closer; they were little girl-like creatures that looked like fairies, but with bat-like wings and little horns coming from their temples.

Reimu made the Yin-Yang Orb grow in size and pulled some ofuda out of the sleeve, ready to fight against the demons.

* * *

 **Author's Note: And that wraps up the battle between SinGyoku and Reimu. The backstory and character of SinGyoku is really my own character for them, since there is very little cannon character for them, outside of being the first boss in all of Touhou. I've read a few fics that portray them more as being a sort of enemy against Reimu (and by a few I mostly mean because they rarely appear in fanfictions, for rather obvious reasons), so I guess my own interpretation of them is considered to be more original.**

 **What do you think of the idea of them being twin spirits of the Yin-Yang Orb, and their battle against Reimu being a test of her strength?**

 **Anyways I had to keep the battle mostly low tier, since Reimu is still new to all of this, and that since SinGyoku is technically what could be called a Stage 1 boss, so I believe that they shouldn't be all that strong either.**

 **Oh well, next chapter Reimu fights Mima, though the spirit has lost most of her magic and power at the moment and is searching for it. If you want to see the powerful Mima that is usually portrayed in fiction, then you're going to have to wait until at least the _Story of Eastern Wonderland_ arc.**

 **Also _Private Winters_ himself, the man that made the story that inspired this, is aware of this and thinks that it is okay. That was quite the pleasant surprise.**

 **Bye~.**


	3. A Ghost Fallen from Her Grace

Reimu walked through the red land of Jigoku, the many little devils that had flew towards her having being defeated and disappeared. The shrine maiden trainee remembers that Genji and her own mum telling her that if a youkai or fairy is killed or has taken enough damage (especially for the later) they explode into a pile of magical energy, which then returns back into the fairy or youkai a few seconds of minutes later. Nevertheless, Reimu had defeated the little devils rather easily. Very easily, in fact. Even only her ofuda and gohei were strong against them. And then there was the Yin-Yang Orb, which took down waves of those fairy-like creatures as she whacked the large orb towards them.

Reimu hummed as she walked along the hot terrain, the Yin-Yang Orb shrunken and held in her hand, a glow coming from the side of it, facing towards where she is meant to be going. Reimu didn't know if it was because of SinGyoku or because of the powerful and mysterious Yin-Yang Orb itself, but the little girl herself didn't mind or care that much.

Jigoku didn't seem to be all that interesting in appearance. There were a few simple and small houses along where Reimu was going, the trainee even managed to see some demons through the windows of those houses, all looking like little girls in pretty dresses and just watching her as she passed by. But that was the most of it.

Compared to SinGyoku, Jigoku was pretty easy. Maybe Konngara wouldn't be that hard, at least after what Reimu had gone through against SinGyoku.

Reimu began to notice something in the distance, something that looked like one of the small houses that the shrine maiden trainee had came across as she walked through Jigoku. As she came closer, the building became clearer to Reimu. It was a shrine, a lot like the one back home. Except that it looked broken and rotten; holes were in the roof, most of the walls have been rotten away, one of the doors was ripped off and inside the shrine, which was completely empty. There weren't even any demons, bugs or animals in the shrine. There was a hokora in front of the shrine, surprisingly in perfect shape, like it was cleaned and taken care of each day at the least, a massive contrast to the barely intact shrine behind it.

An image of SinGyoku came from the Yin-Yang Orb, the equally yin-yang creature somehow giving off an aura that made it feel like both of the twins were mad at what was up ahead. "You should be careful, Lady Hakurei." SinGyoku warned, a sense of anger in the twins' voice. "There is a something that is very evil living in there. We would rather that you avoid it before _it_ notices you."

Reimu was confused; was the evil thing supposed to be stronger or more dangerous than Konngara? The image of SinGyoku had refused to disappear, seemingly still facing towards the rotting shrine. The hokora suddenly began to shake, a little growl of anger coming from SinGyoku. The hokora was empty, but a blue mist suddenly appeared and came out of it. The blue mist flew into the air, turning into a woman. She had a white cap over her long green hair, her eyes dark and lifeless. She wore a long white and blue dress with red and green markings around its actions, a medium-length blue cape with tattered edges was fastened around her neck by a red ribbon. Instead of legs, she had a light blue tail instead of legs. She also had a knife in her hand.

"Who dares to awaken the great and powerful Mima?" The ghost asked, her hands raised in the air to make her look more large and imposing. The green-haired ghost then raised an eyebrow as she spotted Reimu. "A little girl? In Jigoku?"

The ghost's lifeless eyes focussed more on Reimu's garb and the items she had on hand, her eyes widening in surprise. Even though her eyes had no sign of life in them, they glowed with delight. SinGyoku made their image enlarge, becoming more noticeable to the knife-wielding ghost.

"Mima, you horrid, evil megalomaniac! Even when we are solving an incident that is unrelated to you, you still find a way to show your annoying, ugly face!" SinGyoku snarled, the floating ghost smirking as she saw the yin-yang spirit.

 **A Ghost Fallen from Her Grace**

 **Mima**

"Ah, SinGyoku, or should I say Sin and Gyoku." Mima said, leaning back in the air and bending her tail, making it look like she was sitting on it. "I has been so long since I have last seen you two. Of course when I last saw you two I still had my old powers and magic, and you two had a different and much more older shrine maiden. Oh, and I remember that you, the shrine maiden and a few other mages had sealed away my power here. Tell me, do you think that it was a good idea to come here with the treasure that I have been trying to obtain for decades? And with a tiny, little child, of all possible shrine maidens?"

Reimu was more confused than ever, especially as the two yin-yang pieces that made SinGyoku had separated, the brown part becoming Sin while the transparent half turned in Gyoku. "Who is this... Mima?" Reimu asked.

"She is a dangerous, merciless, powerful witch that has lived long ago." Gyoku answered, still glaring at Mima as she just smiled at the two spirits and Reimu with malevolence. "After dying, she became much stronger in maigc and power. Shortly after Gensokyo was created, her spirit came to the land, fuelled by the desire to kill the Hakurei maiden and steal her powers to control the Yin-Yang Orb."

"Oh yes, those were such glorious days." Mima said, looking up into Jigoku's red sky, a look of reminiscing in her eyes. "For centuries, I had attacked the Hakurei shrine countless times. As the little boy before has said, I wanted to kill the Hakurei shrine maiden and gain her power to control the Yin-Yang Orbs. My magic on its own may be immensely powerful, but if I were to combine it with the power of the Yin-Yang Orb then I would be invincible. And I would finally be able to have my revenge against humanity for what it has done to me. Oh my, you two sure are giving me a glare for the ages. Do you still owe me ill will for our little incident that happened a few decades ago?"

"Do you mean when you _killed_ us?" The image of Sin snarled. Mima was unfazed by the red eyes glaring at her.

"Oh, pish posh! You two managed to become a part of the Yin-Yang Orb and gain some of its power to your own. Frankly, I'm quite jealous of you two." Mima responded, waving her hand at Sin and Gyoku dismissively. "I could very well hold a grudge against both of you for being used in part of taking away my power. Now I'm forced to scour this wretched piece of land for where you sealed my power so I can get it back."

"Wait, wait, wait." Reimu said, flailing her arms around, diverting the three spirit's attention towards her. The shrine maiden trainee was beginning to feel like she was watching strangers yell at each other, especially since she is still new to Sin and Gyoku. It made Reimu feel uncomfortable. "What happened to get this Mima's powers sealed?"

"A long time ago, before even your mother's time, one of your ancestors, Kazuko Hakurei, resolved to rid the world of Mima for once and for all." Sin and Gyoku said, the two spirits forming back into their fused yin-yang form. "Knowing that it would be impossible to kill Mima, as she is already a vengeful spirit, and that she could escape any seal put on her, regardless of strength as long as she is given enough time. So she banded together a group of mages and used their help to defeat the biggest threat towards Gensokyo. After defeating Mima, they sealed away her power in a giant, golden stigma and placed it somewhere in here. The mages warned that if Mima were to ever touch the stigma, then she would regain her powers. We were confident that she would never find the stigma, so no one was afraid. Though Mima disappeared, Gensokyo became very calm as the scourge of all magicians was gone."

"That is quite true, shrine maiden. The two little twins tell the absolute truth." Mima said calmly, still seemingly sitting on her tail. Suddenly a fire of rage rose in Mima's eyes, the ghost gripping her hands tightly. "And I have been searching for forever since then, turning every stone that I have came across in search of that stigma. But what is most annoying is the demons, because some of them are actually _stronger_ than I am in this state, so those annoyances have been getting in my way. They better hope I don't recognise them when I gain back my magic...!"

"If you are searching for the stigma so hard, then why were you sleeping in the hokora?" Reimu asked.

"Even endless beings such as a ghost need a little rest every now and then~." Mima responded. The ghost suddenly pointed her knife towards Reimu, a crazy look in her eyes. "Now, Little Maiden, I shall kill _you_ and control the Yin-Yang Orbs. And after that, I'll use their powers to up upheave the land and break apart the foundations of this pathetic dimension, and I'll do so until I find my powers. Once they're back, I'll combine them with the power of the Yin-Yang Orbs and have my ultimate revenge against humanity and rule supreme over all."

"Sorry, Lady Reimu, but it seems that you have no other hope than to fight Mima." SinGyoku said as they returned to the Yin-Yang Orb. "She should be much weaker than in the past, when your ancestors fought her. But you must still be careful, Mima is a dangerous trickster."

Mima grinned at Reimu as SinGyoku fully disappeared back into the Yin-Yang Orb, the green-haired ghost swiping her knife in front of her. Reimu was confused by the action, seeing as Mima was still a good distance away from her. Two outlines of cubes suddenly enveloped Mima, the two outlines passing through each other as they spun around, though none of them moved from where they were; surrounding Mima. The grinning ghost then pointed her knife towards Reimu. White pellets, like the ones that Sin and Gyoku had used, came out of the pointy ends of the cubes; firing out rapidly as the cubes they came from were spinning around at fast speeds.

Reimu was barely able to swat away the white bullets as they came towards her as a wave. Even though she was greatly focussed on getting rid of the oncoming bullets with her gohei, Reimu managed to grab hold of some of her ofuda in the short span of time that the bullets weren't heading straight for her, the trainee throwing the paper amulets at Mima, the ofuda passing right through the ghost without her showing any signs of being hurt.

"Ha ha ha ha ha." Mima laughed, the cube outlines that surrounded her still spinning and shooting bullets out of their edges. "Fool, you're only a little child. A mere _trainee_. You're too weak for your ofuda to hurt me. As far as a spirit like myself is concerned, all you're doing is throwing regular paper at me."

Reimu gritted her teeth, not knowing what to do. Her ofuda can only pass through Mima and the spirit is releasing too many bullets for her to come close and hit her with her gohei. And Reimu thinks that it would be too dangerous to come close to Mima when she has that knife of hers, she knows enough to not get stabbed.

Reimu then remembered the method that she used on SinGyoku, which was also really powerful against the demons that she had fought shortly after entering this dimension. Reimu dropped the Yin-Yang Orb in front of herself, the shrine maiden trainee making the ball grow in size as it bounced off the ground. Reimu whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards Mima, the sorcerer's magic bullets being futile against the ancient treasure. Not that Mima was scared, as far as she was sure, Reimu was basically giving the Yin-Yang Orb to her.

"Oh, what's this?" Mima said as the Yin-Yang Orb was heading straight for her, the ghost not feeling worried as she believed that it would pass right through her, like the ofuda. "That is a generous gift, but I still need to kill you to-OOMF!"

The Yin-Yang Orb hit Mima square in the face, the sphere bouncing off her face. Mima dropped her knife upon being hit, but her spell had remained.

Reimu, despite being focused on swatting away the magic bullets that came without end, was tracking the Yin-Yang Orb, the trainee running to where it was heading, giving it another whack to send it back towards Mima. The aforementioned ghost had a red mark across her face from its collision with the Yin-Yang Orb, the ghost glaring at Reimu. Mima suddenly vanished, the magic cubes that surrounded her disappearing. Reimu didn't know where Mima went, though the shrine maiden trainee then sensed Mima's energy from behind her. Reimu turned around, seeing Mima pointing a knife towards her, a square outline surrounding her and spinning clockwise. Light blue knives shot out from the square, even though it was just an outline, disappearing shortly after they were stabbed into the ground.

Reimu tried to dodge the knives as best she could, one of the magical weapons cutting through the kimono and the flesh around the side of one of her biceps, the young shrine maiden making a sharp intake of air through her teeth as she grabbed at the cut area. The cut wasn't deep, the blade had more of grazed at Reimu's skin, but blood had still leaked out from the cut, and the pain still stung worse than a wasp.

"That's what you deserve for _hitting_ me with the greatest treasure to have ever been known by humans." Mima sneered as Reimu had once again attempted to dodge the knives, this time by using the help of her gohei and ofuda; they may have been powerless when it came to hurting Mima, but they can be useful against her danmaku. Reimu's purple eyes noticed the Yin-Yang Orb rolling around, the ancient relic seemingly being forgotten by Mima, despite it being the ghost's main goal. Mima had noticed the trainee's odd change in focus, the ghost looking to where the shrine maiden trainee was looking, unknowingly dispelling her own magical attack. Mima's eyes widened as she noticed the Yin-Yang Orb, the ghost mentally ranting to herself for forgetting about the treasure.

Reimu used the power of her link to the Yin-Yang Orb to make it roll quickly towards her, the focus for the link being easy as Mima was no longer sending her knives towards her. Reimu kicked the Yin-Yang Orb, making it go into the air. With a powerful swing of her gohei, Reimu sent the Yin-Yang Orb flying towards Mima.

Not wanting to fall for the same trick twice, Mima disappeared again. Reimu was able to sense where Mima was going to reappear more easily this time, the shrine maiden running away as she sensed the fallen ghost reappearing behind her.

Mima slashed at empty air, barely even able to cut as some of Reimu's long, purple hair. Reimu ran towards the Yin-Yang Orb as it bounced along Jigoku, the shrine maiden trainee sliding along the ground as Mima sent more white bullets towards her, the young maiden managing to slide under the Yin-Yang Orb, quickly getting back on her feet and hitting the Yin-Yang Orb. The magical weapon flew towards Mima, this time managing to hit the ghost, hitting her in the chest.

Mima fell on to her back, the ghost turning her head up to look at Reimu as the trainee called the Yin-Yang Orb towards her. "You are quite unusual, for both a human and a shrine maiden." Mima said as she floated back up, summoning a square outline, much like the one she used for her magical knives attack. "Though, in the end, you are still and little girl. You are still a trainee. If I had my true power on hand, I would be able to annihilate you without breaking a sweat. Though, after my many years, centuries even, of fighting Hakurei shrine maidens, of putting my all into the many battles I have had against them, constantly losing against them despite all that I had put into each battle, blasting away a young trainee into atoms would feel anticlimactic. Even if I finally gained the Yin-Yang Orb and achieved my vengeance and ultimate rule, it would all still feel undeserved."

Magic pellets shot out of the corners of the square outline, homing in on the shrine maiden. "I am getting tired of these homing bullets!" Reimu yelled angrily, throwing ofuda towards the magic bullets and destroying them.

"Don't worry, you won't be facing many homing bullets in the afterlife, Hakurei." Mima said, pressing the blade of her knife to her chest. A red light suddenly shined from the blade, shooting out little red lasers towards the ground. Pillars of red magic shot out of the ground from where the lasers touched. Mima was staying perfectly still, Reimu was careful to avoid where the red pillars were coming from, hitting the Yin-Yang Orb towards the ghost, hitting her as she didn't try to teleport or move away from the oncoming sphere.

Mima didn't stop her spell as the Yin-Yang Orb hit her, the ghost only increasing the power of her spell. The Yin-Yang Orb had only bounced off the ground once before Reimu whacked it again, sending the thing flying towards Mima's face. Mima growled as the ball once again bounced off her face, the angry ghost pointing her knife towards Reimu, multiple white balls of pure danmaku shooting towards Reimu, hitting the shrine maiden trainee. The little girl screamed in pain, though Mima didn't finish her pursuit.

The Yin-Yang Orb bounced between Reimu and Mima, destroying the pellets that the latter was sending towards the former. Reimu took the opportunity to fly out of the ghost's range, said ghost beginning to feel her ectoplasm boil in rage.

"Forget about honour and pride, this battle with this trainee has been going on for too long...!" Mima growled. If she was still the powerful mage that she was before the Hakurei from long ago had sealed her powers, if she had the same magic that sent fear into the hearts of humans, youkai and gods alike, powers that caused many magicians to form cults for her, she _would_ have blasted away this stupid trainee before the battle even began. And yet this same trainee was managing to hold her own against the legendary Mima, because the great ghost had only a fraction of her magic left. "Why won't you just die already?!"

Reimu didn't respond, the shrine maiden trainee merely whacking the Yin-Yang Orb towards Mima once again. The spirit teleported away from where she was before the Yin-Yang Orb could hit her, reappearing floating above the rotten shrine. Mima had to spare a few seconds to admire the work she did on the shrine, the damage to it being done by here. It felt like some good catharsis against the Hakureis for that they have denied and done to the ghost, even if the shrine would never have any importance of any kind towards line of shrine maidens.

Mima pointed her knife towards Reimu, the little girl having her entire attention towards the magician ghost. Mima flew towards Reimu as fast as she could, her knife still pointed towards Reimu. She was feeling tired and had a very low arsenal of spells because of most of her magic being sealed away. The ghost just decided to be straightforward and stab Reimu.

Reimu protected herself with her gohei, the old wood in the stick miraculously not breaking as Mima tried to plunge her knife into it. "This is the end for you, Hakurei." Mima said a maniacal look in her soulless eyes as she let out a small but crazy laugh. "This is your end. I kill you now and obtain the Yin-Yang Orb for myself! After all _I_ know how to uses the orb's power, not you; a weak and tiny child. I'll get back my magic and show the world what true power is. Do you understand me?"

Reimu struggled against Mima, the little girl knowing that her arms will eventually give up. Reimu looked up, seeing the Yin-Yang Orb falling down towards her and Mima, With every last inch of strength that she had, Reimu managed to separate herself from Mima, the shrine maiden trainee using her gohei to whack the Yin-Yang Orb on Mima's head at point-blank range, the mystic item hitting down on the ghost's head with powerful force.

Mima had frozen, the slight look of insanity in her eyes disappearing and becoming replaced with pain. Albeit, it was a rather comical expression of pain.

Mima fell to her side, her eyes turning into dizzy spirals as she became unconscious, defeated.

Reimu fell down onto her butt, a sigh of relief escaping form the little girl as she defeated the ghost. It actually got scary against her, when she started to go insane, or when she started to gain the advantage. Reimu looked at Mima, the ghost still lying on the ground unconscious with spirals for eyes. The shrine maiden trainee kept her eyes on Mima whilst also keeping her distance from her, not wanting for the ghost to suddenly wake up and attempt to attack and kill her again. Reimu willed the Yin-Yang Orb to roll towards her, the purple-haired little girl grabbing it and holding it in her arms for comfort. She should have thought ahead before entering Jigoku, she should have thought about something as scary as this happening to her.

The image of Sin and Gyoku appeared atop of the Yin-Yang Orb, the two spirits looking at Reimu in concern. "Lady Reimu, you look afraid." Sin said, her voice as concerned as her face.

"It... it was scary." Reimu responded. Hakurei or not, she is still a little girl, things such as a ghost trying to kill her was terrifying to her. It just didn't apply to her until after the ghost was defeated; she was too focussed on the battle to feel afraid.

"We are sorry that you had to go through this, Lady Reimu." Gyoku said earnestly. "We know that this must be terrifying, but this is what all Hakurei shrine maidens must fight against. You might be terrified now, but like all of the shrine maidens before you, you may learn to be able to overcome the fear."

A part of Reimu wanted to yell at the guardian spirits for their apparent disregard towards the little girl's fears. But... a part of her understood. Maybe it was being a part of a Hakurei, but Reimu was no longer scared of what happened to her. She didn't even feel afraid of the ghost next to her anymore.

Speaking off whom...

"What should we do about her?" Reimu asked, pointing towards Mima, the ghost still unconscious. Dead or not, the constant whacks to the forehead must of done some mental damage.

"It is best that you seal her in the hokora." Sin answered, the red-haired priestess glaring at Mima. "She may have lost most of her power, but she can still be dangerous, as she has just shown. Besides, some punishment is what she deserves for her many crimes."

Following Gyoku's instructions, Reimu had successfully sealed Mima up in the hokora, the ghost having been unconscious throughout the entire process. Reimu looked down at herself, seeing a cut along one of her arms, faint burn marks brough upon by the magic bullets on her body, her kimono burnt and torn slightly. Reimu had a sense of doubt that she will be able to defeat Konngara once they fight, but at the same time she believed that she would still be able to defeat the ruler of Jigoku.

A side of the Yin-Yang Orb was once again glowing, navigating Reimu to where Konngara's headquarters are. The shrine maiden trainee left the rotten shrine and the hokora with an evil ghost sealed in it without much thought or worry. Hopefully Mima won't escape and regain her magical powers and continue doing what she has done to many shrine maidens prior, at least not until Reimu had mastered her abilities and techniques as a shrine maiden more.

More and more of those little girl-like devils flew towards Reimu, shooting out magical bullets towards the trainee. Once again, they were very easy compared to the other creatures that Reimu has fought today, so they were easy, especially as her ofuda could be used against them as something more than a means to stop their magic bullets.

Reimu continued to follow the Yin-Yang Orb's directions until it suddenly stopped glowing. Reimu looked around herself, finding nothing that looked like a building in any shape or form. The purple-haired girl raised an eyebrow towards the Yin-Yang orb, poking it with her gohei, wondering if it suddenly ran out of holy energy or if something or someone was interfering with it.

Reimu looked up from the Yin-Yang Orb, the shrine maiden trainee being taken by surprise as a giant castle was suddenly in front of her. Reimu blinked, that castle was definitely not there before, and she didn't sense anything like it a second ago. Reimu pressed her hand against one of the large doors, even those hinged barriers were towering over her. Surprisingly, despite their immense size, the doors were easy to open; Reimu barely had to put in any effort to open the doors.

As the doors opened, Reimu saw a hall, a hall filled with even more of those devils that looked like little girls in dresses with bat-like wings and horns. Reimu easily cleared through the waves of devils that came at her as she ran around the large castle, trying to find where Konngara was hiding. After an unknown amount of time of searching and beating up little devils, Reimu came across a door that was large, like the others, but also light.

The shrine maiden trainee pushed the doors open to see a throne room. Sitting on the throne was a giant lady with black hair, red clothes and eyes and a giant, red horn coming from her forehead, as well as a bronze disk displaying a girl, the bronze disk connected to a chain that the lady had wrapped around her neck.

Reimu pointed her gohei towards the giant lady, a determined look on her little face. "Are you one called Konngara, the one that opened the portal to this dimension?" Reimu asked, the giant lady in front of her being surprised by the bravado that Reimu was showing for a human at her age. A smile grew on the woman's face; it didn't look sinister, but it didn't look exactly inviting either.

"Indeed I am." The lady, Konngara, responded, remaining sat down on her large throne. "I am Konngara, the Astral Knight and one of the former Four Devas of the Mountain. It is a pleasure to meet you, Hakurei Shrine Maiden."

* * *

 **Author's Note: Well that wraps up the battle between Reimu and Mima, which mostly took inspiration from the actual battle in _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ (or at least from videos that I have watched of the fight, since it seems to be a little impossible for me to actually get the game). Of course I still had to keep the battle a little low tier, since Mima is still technically a Stage 2 boss in the game. My main decision for most of Mima's power to be sealed away in Jigoku, with the spirit looking for it, is mostly to explain why she isn't as strong in _HRtP_ compared to later on in the games, and why she is in Jigoku in the first place.**

 **So now it seems like Reimu and Konngara are gonna duke it out, but first the shine maiden trainee is going to have to battle against Kikuri.**

 **Fun fact: Most of this chapter was written in one day. I know, it shows.**

 **Reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are appreciated.**

 **Until the next chapter~...!**


	4. The Champion of Konngara

Reimu stood before Konngara, the giant, horned lady remaining sat on her throne, smiling down at the tiny shrine maiden trainee with her odd smile. The longer that Reimu looked at Konngara, the more that she realised how much bigger than her the ruler of Jigoku is; Reimu could probably be as tall as only her thumb. Reimu didn't let the fear of Konngara's size get to her; she is a Hakurei shrine maiden, even if she's just a trainee she won't run away if Konngara is the size of an entire mountain.

"I request that you close the portal to Gensokyo this instant, or else I will beat you up until you do." Reimu demanded, the little girl keeping a powerful glare towards the giant oni in front of her.

An escape of air cane from Konngara's nostrils as she tried to keep her mouth closed, the black-haired woman putting her hand over her mouth as she tried to stop laughing. Konngara's efforts, however, were in vain as she started laughing outright anyways. Reimu felt offended as the giant laughed at her threat, throwing her ofuda towards the giant woman. Like how her ofuda worked against anyone who wasn't the little devils, the paper charms didn't hurt Konngara and only fell down from her clothing. Konngara didn't take notice to Reimu's attempted attack, if anything she just ignored it.

"Threats do not work on oni, and the promise of a good fight only inch us towards the possibility." Konngara responded calmly, not getting up from her throne. "If you wish for me to close the portal between Gensokyo and Jigoku, you must first defeat me."

"Fine then, I _will_ defeat you." Reimu said, making the Yin-Yang Orb grow in size; if Reimu had anything that would be able to hurt Konngara, it would be the Yin-Yang Orb. Reimu was about to whack the Yin-Yang Orb towards Konngara and battle her like she does with everyone else, but the oni had stopped her by outstretching a hand that had all of her fingers folded in her palm with the exception her index finger, which was still stretched out, signalling Reimu a no. The shrine maiden trainee didn't know why, but for some reason she complied to the oni's demand, the hand holding onto her gohei hanging near limply by her side.

"I'm afraid that we cannot simply just battle each other like that. While I would love a good battle, especially a good battle against a worthy opponent as I am a oni, I am still the master and ruler of this dimension. Thus, if you wish to fight me, you must first best my champion in battle." Konngara explained, her fingers rubbing over the bronze disk attached to her neck, a faint glow of a purple energy sparking from the disc. "Tell me, Hakurei Maiden, are you sure that you want to face my champion before me? Do know that while she isn't as strong as myself, she is still one of the toughest entities living in this dimension."

"Fine then, go on, unleash your champion on me!" Reimu yelled, keeping her gohei facing towards Konngara. "I don't care how many people I have to beat up, as a Hakurei shrine maiden I must battle anyone who acts as a threat towards the existence of Gensokyo!"

"Ah, very well." Konngara responded. "Tell me, what is your name, Hakurei Maiden?"

"Reimu." The aforementioned shrine maiden trainee answered. "I am Reimu Hakurei."

"Very well, Reimu. Behold, my champion: Kikuri!" Konngara said, grabbing hold of the bronze disk surrounding her neck, yanking it off. The bronze chain disappeared into a purple fire, though the disk itself remained intact. Konngara threw the disk towards Reimu, the same disk suddenly stopping and floating in the air as it was halfway towards Reimu, a bright glow of purple coming from the disk. Reimu closed her eyes and covered her face with her arms as the glow was unnaturally bright. When Reimu removed her arms, she was surprised to see that the disk had enlarged, now being as tall as a tall human being. It was bobbing up and down in the air as a fire-like purple aura came off of it. Nothing on the disk had changed, though the blue orb in between the woman's hands was starting to glow brighter. The eyes on the girl in the bronze disk suddenly opened, being completely bronze like the rest of her.

 **Magic Mirror**

 **Kikuri**

"Hello, Miss Reimu Hakurei. It is nice to meet you." Kikuri said to Reimu, her voice being calm and polite. She honestly spoke like a woman that protected, cared for and respected children. "I do hope that, no matter how merciless either of us become, there will be no long-lasting ill will between us."

Reimu once again raised her gohei, ready to whack the Yin-Yang Orb and begin her battle with the champion of Jigoku, but was quickly stopped by Konngara before the battle could begin. "Before you start, I wish to do this first." Konngara said. The giant oni raised a hand into the air and clenched it shut, a green glow seeping through the small spaces between her fingers. Konngara opened her hand, a swarm of small, green spheres flying out and flying around each other. "Even though we love to both watch and participate in a good old-fashioned brawl, we oni still greatly respect the concepts of truth and fairness. They are both one of the few things we value above strength and a really good alcoholic drink. I cannot live with myself if you face my champion before my healing spirits fix you of your injuries, pain and exhaustion."

The tiny green spheres flew towards Reimu, eventually engulfing her body with them. A feeling suddenly arose in Reimu, like that feeling of being fresh after her mum used to bath her. Ever since her battle against Mima, Reimu's body had hurt and ached, but these spheres were beginning to make that pain go away, and then suddenly she felt no more pain. What's more, she has also been feeling rather exhausted since her battle against the ghost, but the spheres were making the exhaustion go away as well. The green spheres flew away from Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee looking down at her body, becoming surprised as she saw that all the cuts and bruises on her body had gone away completely. Even her kimono was repaired.

Reimu felt excited, after she is still a kid. But now that she is healed, with her feelings of being tired and her pain gone, Reimu was more than prepared to fight Kikuri. The shrine maiden trainee whacked her gohei against her Yin-Yang Orb, and the battle had begun.

* * *

The Hakurei shrine was quiet, with the only exception being the chirps of crickets. Gensokyo was usually quiet at night, at least at the Hakurei Shrine and at The Human Village. The Forest of Magic was usually subject to magical duels between youkai and youkai, magician and magician, and youkai and magician.

The waters of the pond next to the cherry grove behind the shrine suddenly rippled as Genji slowly crawled out of the area of water. The guardian spirit had woke up a few minutes ago and found himself to be unable to fall back to sleep, so he decided to check on Reimu, to see if she was safe and getting go sleep.

As Genji slowly walked around the shrine, his eyes noticed something different about the torii gate at the front of the shrine's steps: there was a portal there, a portal sealed from the other side. Even though physical forms didn't matter much to an entity like Genji, with all of his organs mostly existing to mimic a real turtle as greatly as he could, Genji still felt his heart stop and squeeze tightly as he recognised the barrier. It looked like one created by Gyoku, and due to him now being dead and inside the Yin-Yang Orb, the only ones that can conjure his barriers are shrine maidens.

Genji rose off the ground as he activated his flying powers and floated above the ground, knowing that even though he is naturally slow when walking, he still can be a fast flyer. Genji flew to the front of the shrine, finding the doors to having been slid open, the shrine empty. Genji poked his head under the kotatsu, hoping to find Reimu sleeping under the table, but the shrine maiden in training was nowhere to be seen. Genji took his head out from under the kotatsu and looked towards the torii gate, the turtle-like entity quickly flying to the large, red gate. Genji put his feet back down on the ground as he was in front of the torii gate, looking through the blue, translucent barrier to see what was behind.

Genji saw a red land with many fires, the spirit recognising it as Jigoku. If Genji had teeth, he would have gritted them. He knew that all Hakurei shrine maidens, especially trainees, have to eventually go to Jigoku and fight against Konngara, but Reimu is still a little girl. Hell, Genji only trained her while she is at such a young age because of that border-manipulating youkai.

Genji focussed on the barrier that he has became accustomed with; he could easily get rid of the barrier, enter Jigoku and come after Reimu, but that would cause the Hakurei God to become mad at him, and the rage of the Hakurei God is something that Genji would never want.

And if he interfered with Reimu's training...

Genji turned his head to the top of the Hakurei shrine, thinking that he will find the gap youkai standing atop and keeping an eye on him. Genji had seen nothing... though there was still to possibility that she made herself invisible by manipulating the boundary of visible/invisible.

Sighing in defeat, Genji sat down in front of the torii gate, knowing that he'll just have to wait until Reimu beats Konngara and leaves.

* * *

Reimu was running as quickly as she could, running away from the red lasers that Kikuri was shooting out of her eyes. Reimu knew that she would have a lot of surprises but she never expected Kikuri to be able to shoot lasers out of her eyes, powerful lasers at that; even the Yin-Yang Orb had bounced off of the lasers upon contact instead of destroying them like it did with most of the bullets. Reimu tripped, the young maiden quickly getting back on her feet to escape the laser Kikuri sent towards her, the laser grazing at the side of her torso.

Between the indestructible lasers that Kikuri kept on sending towards her and her Yin-Yang Orb bouncing around and threatening to hit her, Reimu was barely able to focus on the lady in the bronze disk before her. Kikuri suddenly stopped firing lasers out of her eyes. "I know that my lasers are powerful, Miss Reimu Hakurei, however I can only use so many of them in one go." Kikuri said, once again having a polite tone in her voice. Even Kikuri's bronze eyes shown the same politeness as before. "However, I have many other tricks up my sleeve. Do not doubt the power of Konngara's champion."

A hum of energy came from the orb between Kikuri's hands, the bronze lady's eyes were closed as she focused her power into the sphere. Reimu ran to her Yin-Yang Orb, whacking the treasure towards Kikuri. The Yin-Yang had hit Kikuri, but the woman didn't react, continuing to charge the energy into the orb between her hands. Kikuri then shot out a ring of white bullets towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee throwing her ofuda towards the ring, destroying the bullets that it was comprised of.

Kikuri continued to shoot out more rings of bullets towards Reimu, shooting out more and more rings of bullets towards the little girl. Reimu ran away from the bullet rings, the purple-haired girl running towards the Yin-Yang Orb, Reimu slid along the ground and whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards Kikuri. Kikuri's ring bullets were following after Reimu, though most of those bullets were destroyed as Reimu sent the Yin-Yang Orb towards Kikuri. Once again, Kikuri didn't react when the Yin-Yang Orb hit her. Reimu began to wonder if the Yin-Yang Orb didn't hurt Kikuri or if she just doesn't feel pain.

Kikuri once again focussed her power and energy into the blue orb between her hands, this time conjuring two fireballs of purple flames. The two purple fires flew into the air, shooting small, purple fireballs towards Reimu. The shrine maiden trainee hit away the smaller fireballs with her gohei, throwing ofuda towards Kikuri as the woman sent out waves of bullets from her disk.

Reimu was suddenly socked in the side of her head by the Yin-Yang Orb, the little girl falling down onto her side. Reimu was able to roll out of the range of the bullets and the fireballs, the shrine maiden trainee quickly going back onto her feet and running towards the Yin-Yang Orb, whacking it, the holy item bouncing off the wall and hitting Kikuri. The bronze lady didn't make any sounds of pain, but she still showed that the Yin-Yang Orb may have had an effect on her.

The fireballs that Kikuri created had remained existing, shooting out even more smaller fireballs, this time towards the floor. As soon as the smaller fireballs touched the marble floor they burst into embers of purple fire. Thankfully the embers disappeared shortly after, but it didn't change that it was enough of a sign towards Reimu that she should be vigilante towards the fireballs. Reimu made a slide along the floor as Kikuri shot more rings of bullets towards her while the fireballs continued to drop their little bomb-like attacks.

Reimu continued to whack the Yin-Yang orb towards Kikuri, the bronze lady doing nothing to dodge the mystical weapon as it came for her. Reimu didn't know if Kikuri had no knowledge on dodging or if she just believed that she could take it all. Then again, a lot of Reimu's swings towards the champion of Konngara had missed, so maybe Kikuri had little reason to dodge? Reimu was honestly too caught up in running away from the bullets that were being sent towards her to fully think or ponder about what goes through the head of the woman.

A purple fireball quickly fell down in front of Reimu's face, the purple-haired shrine maiden trainee having no time to dodge as an ember came from the fireball as it hitted the floor. Reimu was burnt by the purple fires; even though they didn't leave any burns Reimu or her kimono, it didn't change that it hurt to be attacked by the fires.

"I warned you that this battle could become merciless." Kikuri said, a hint of regret in her voice, though it did nothing to stop her as she once again released a wave of bullets from the side of the disk she was seemingly stuck to. "I earnestly hope that you will forgive me for everything that I do to you in this battle."

"Yeah, well I hope that you forgive me for this!" Reimu yelled at Kikuri, sending the Yin-Yang Orb towards the bronze lady, hitting her square in the face. This time Kikuri showed a sign that the orb may have done considerable damage towards her, however the woman quickly regained her serene expression, once again shooting lasers from her eyes.

Konngara watched the battle between her champion and the shrine maiden trainee, the giant oni focussing mostly on the purple-eyed little girl. She was much different from the other trainees that she has faced; not only was she younger but her methods of combat were different. Konngara may have faced every Hakurei shrine maiden that has ever existed for the last millennium or so, but that was mostly because _he_ ordered her to. That was mostly because he knew when they were ready for the trials. Konngara was certain that Reimu's young age and lack of real training could be the reason why she isn't fighting like the others.

Why, the Hakurei shrine maidens of the past could already fly and shoot out danmaku by the time they had to face Konngara and her champions. Reimu was showing good work against Kikuri, but if she was like any of her ancestors than she would have probably defeat Kikuri by now.

Though, once again, with her young age and lack of training, Konngara couldn't really fault Reimu for her methods of fighting against Kikuri.

The shrine maiden trainee whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards the fireballs that Kikuri summoned, the purple flames being destroyed upon being hit. There was finally a different expression Kikuri's face that had lasted for more than a few seconds: shock. Kikuri had completely frozen in her actions, she wasn't even shooting out anymore bullets in her state of being nonplussed.

"This is my chance...!" Reimu whispered as her foe was left frozen in surprise of what she did, the shrine maiden trainee herself once again having bruises, with her kimono being greatly singed. "I must hit her when her guard is most down...!"

Reimu poured her energy into the next whack of her gohei, sending it fly towards Kikuri, the bronze disk woman still comprehending what happened. Kikuri was brought back to the reality around her, only to see the Yin-Yang Orb in front of her at point-blank range. Kikuri was hit without any time to dodge or protect herself, the disk that was a part of herself tilting and falling down onto the floor. Kikuri layed within her disk, her eyes being transformed into swirling spirals.

Kikuri, the champion of Konngara, was defeated by Reimu Hakurei.

"Ha, I won!" Reimu cheered, swinging her gohei in the air victoriously.

Kikuri soon regained consciousness, the bronze disk woman floating up. "It is true, you have won fairly, Miss Reimu Hakurei." Kikuri responded, bowing respectfully towards Reimu. Kikuri then turned towards Konngara and floated towards her, the bronze woman's face turning from her usual smile to a face that was more of regretful sadness. "I am sorry that I failed you, Lady Konngara."

"It is okay, Kikuri, you still fought with everything that you had; that is admirable enough to me." Konngara said, waving a hand dismissively to Kikuri's defeat. Konngara then pointed towards one of the walls of her throne room. "Go sit over there, you deserve the rest."

"Thank you, Lady Konngara." Kikuri spoke before going over the where Konngara pointed, leaning the bronze disk that contained her against the wall. Kikuri focussed her hands back to the orb between them, regaining her serene expression, seemingly becoming completely still again. Reimu just assumed that was Kikuri's way of resting.

Konngara stood up from her throne, the vibrations coming from the giantess' footsteps being enough to nearly make Reimu fall down onto her butt again. Konngara clenched her fist and once again released the green spheres that healed Reimu before her fight with Kikuri, the same green spheres doing the exact same thing that they did then now.

"Before we start our fight, allow me to do something to make the fight a bit more fair..." Konngara said, the oni closing her eyes and seemingly focussing on something. Suddenly, Konngara began to shrink, and she began to shrink entirely, even her clothes were shrinking. Konngara eventually stopped shrinking, now at a size that is more like that of her human. She was still much bigger and taller than Reimu, but she was now the size of a human adult. "Are you ready, Reimu of the Hakureis? Are you prepared to face me: Konngara, the Astral Knight, one of The Four Devas of the Mountain, the true strongest in Jigoku and it ruler?"

Reimu pointed her gohei towards Konngara, a determined look on the little girl's face. "Bring it on." Reimu responded.

A smirk grew on Konngara's face. "You sure are quite the brave and battle-hungry maiden, aren't you?" The red-eyed oni said. "I like you, and I hope I like this battle. Every other enemy that you have faced before will be like a warm up in comparison to me."

Konngara outstretched one of her arms from her side, a flash of lightning appearing around her open hand, a katana appearing into existence. Konngara grabbed the katana by the hilt. Konngara then stabbed the katana into the floor, pressing down the top of the hilt. Cracks appeared where the blade was stabbing into, a blue light seeping out from the cracks. The cracks stretched out along the floor until the marble surface looked like it was all cracks, the same blue light seeping out from all of the cracks. Reimu was both too surprised and curious to stop Konngara, the little girl part of the trainee wanting to see what the oni before her was doing.

The entire floor then broke apart, the blue light from beneath obscuring Reimu's view completely.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Yep, kinda left this chapter on a cliffhanger here, though we all know that it's going to lead to the battle against Konngara, which would also mean the end of the first half of the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc, as there is still the Makai half that Reimu has to go through.**

 **I apologise if the battle between Reimu and Kikuri was boring or undermining, especially in comparison to the Mima battle that happened in the last chapter. It just that there is very little to work with for Reimu, both from how there was little she really could do in the first game, as well as from a story perspective since she's meant to be a little girl who is still just starting to learn and grasp her powers. And then there's Kikuri, who my muse just couldn't think up that much for her character. At least I made her polite.**

 **Reviews are welcomed, even ones that come with constructive criticism.**

 **Next chapter~!**


	5. Swordswoman of a Distant Star

Reimu didn't know what quite happened after the ground beneath her and Konngara had broken, but what she did know was that she was now lying on what felt like the ground. Well, more like she was lying on a surface, because it didn't really feel like the ground. Reimu fluttered her eyes open, finding a giant pillar of blue light that reached up high into the air, far higher than Reimu could see. Reimu looked down the pillar, the shrine maiden trainee becoming surprised as she saw that she was lying on a seemingly invisible platform of sorts. Aside from the pillar and the invisible ground, there were many strange symbols that floated up from the darkness beneath, all the same colour as the pillar in front of Reimu.

Konngara suddenly descended down from the darkness above, Reimu's bones felt like they were shaking from inside her body as a powerful shockwave came as Konngara landed on the invisible platform, even though she was now shrunken down to the size of an adult human instead of the giant that she was a few seconds ago.

Reimu found her gohei, some of her ofuda and her Yin-Yang Orb lying in front of her. Reimu quickly put the ofuda up her sleeve, grabbing her gohei and stood behind her Yin-Yang Orb, ready to whack the yin-yang towards the black-haired oni.

Konngara smirked at Reimu. "This will be a memorable battle indeed." The sword-wielding oni said. Konngara slashed at the air in front of herself, lasers and white bullets shooting out of the blade's tip. Reimu whacked the Yin-Yang Orb and dodged the lasers and bullets, the white projectiles grazing her. Konngara raised her katana high, the blade becoming surrounded by lightning. Reimu was suddenly flung around the dark zone with a blue pillar that she and the oni is in, painful lightning crackling along her body, a faint cut suddenly along her stomach.

Reimu felt a powerful force slam against her back as she landed back on the invisible platform of this odd dimension. Reimu looked back up, seeing Konngara smirking at her. The Yin-Yang Orb was flying towards Konngara from behind, Reimu had a hope that the oni would have been hit by the yin-yang, however Konngara had effortlessly hit the Yin-Yang Orb away with her katana without even looking away from Reimu for even a second.

" _She's already shown herself to be stronger than all my past foes_." Reimu thought as she got back up onto her feet, the shrine maiden trainee knowing that the oni was letting her get back up. " _It will take everything that I have to defeat her_."

The Yin-Yang Orb rolled up to Konngara from behind, the woman raising her foot and landing it on the sphere, kicking it towards Reimu. The purple-haired little girl hit the Yin-Yang Orb with all her strength, sending it back towards Konngara, the oni woman effortlessly hitting it back with her katana. Reimu and Konngara were hitting the Yin-Yang Orb back towards each other, both woman not wanting to miss and have the ancient, holy weapon to hit her in the face, however Reimu was starting to tire much more quickly than Konngara.

"SinGyoku, please help...!" Reimu quickly whispered towards the Yin-Yang Orb for a quick second as her gohei clashed against the Yin-Yang Orb, the shrine maiden trainee sending the ancient Hakurei treasure towards Konngara. With an effortless swing of her katana, Konngara was about to send the Yin-Yang Orb back towards Reimu. However, as soon as the blade of Konngara's katana made contact with the Yin-Yang Orb, a red-haired priestess suddenly shot out from the Yin-Yang Orb, floating above the yin-yang.

"I apologise for the inconvenience, but my maiden needs my help." The priestess said, facing her two palms towards Konngara. The priestess then shot a red beam out of her hands, hitting Konngara square in the face, the oni screaming and grabbing her eyes. Reimu swung at the Yin-Yang Orb, sending it towards Konngara, this time the holy object had managed to hit her.

Konngara staggered back from the attack, the tall oni soon glaring at Reimu. "That was a dirty trick...!" Konngara growled, gripping at her katana. The red-eyed oni then pointed her katana towards Reimu, thunderclouds begun to appear above Reimu, shooting down lighting towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee barely able to dodge them, especially as her Yin-Yang Orb was powerless to stop the lightning strikes. "I do love a good fight, but a dishonest act is something of my disdain."

Konngara raised her open palm in front of her face, a green circle appearing and spinning above her palm. The circle was then shot towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee running away from the spell, especially as the circle grew in size as it came closer to her. The circle had luckily not homed in on Reimu, but it stayed where it stopped, spinning around in place at fast speeds. Konngara sent more of the same circle towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee almost being tapped in a small space. In her peripherals, Reimu had noticed the first circle disappearing, which must mean that the circles are temporary. Konngara sent a stream of white bullets towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee throwing her ofuda towards the bullets to destroy them.

Reimu then started to notice that she was going low on ofuda, very low. She barely has even ten ofuda left. The little girl realised that she'll have to be very careful with her ofuda, because she has no way to restock her supply of paper charms. Very careful indeed.

Konngara held her katana up high, a ray of light reflecting off of the blade, acting like a laser as it touched the supposed ceiling and walls of the dimension, creating a giant pile of white bullets as the laser of light made contact with the darkness. Reimu hit her Yin-Yang Orb to send it flying towards the white bullets to destroy most of them, the shrine maiden trainee still having to swat at most of the same bullets as they came close to her. Konngara hit the Yin-Yang Orb back towards Reimu, the little girl only managing to dodge by the skin of her teeth.

Konngara held her katana out, this time fire had appeared from the blade. With a swing of her weapon, Konngara sent a large wave of fire towards Reimu, the purple-haired shrine maiden trainee having to run along the arena that she and the oni are in to avoid her attack. Reimu tried her luck and threw an ofuda towards Konngara, the larger woman effortlessly cutting the paper talisman in half with a single swing of her katana. Reimu used her link with the Yin-Yang Orb to call it over, once again hitting it towards Konngara.

Konngara jumped high into the air, the oni lady easily escaping the oncoming sphere-shaped projectile. Reimu looked up at Konngara, the woman staying in the air. Konngara had once again swung her sword at the empty air, bullets and lasers shooting out of the tip of her katana's blade. Reimu rolled along the invisible floor of the odd pocket dimension that Konngara had sent her to, avoiding the aforementioned oni's attack.

"I really need to train more." Reimu mumbled under her breath as she got back up onto her feet.

Konngara snapped her fingers, summoning what looked like two balls of white fire. The two balls of fire shot out magic bullets that seemed to have trapped Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee whacking the Yin-Yang Orb towards Konngara to both hit the black-haired woman and get rid of some of those bullets. Konngara parried the attack once again, however Reimu had quickly thought of that, the trainee throwing an ofuda towards the Yin-Yang Orb as it was just starting to be sent back towards her, the holy relic hitting Konngara in the face as the Astral Knight was unprepared for the little girl's improvised attack.

Konngara looked at Reimu, the ruler of Jigoku not knowing whenever she should be frowning at her for being a trickster like most of those humans or to applaud her for her quick thinking in combat. The oni decided that she can think about that once the battle is over, swinging her sword and sending more bullets towards the shrine maiden in training. "Some of your skill is very impressive, Hakurei. Especially for someone of your age." Konngara admitted, the oni aiming her katana towards Reimu as the shrine maiden trainee came close. Konngara did wonder why Reimu would come close to her when oni are known to be much stronger in hand-to-hand combat than anyone else, but she decided to just chalk it up to a lack of knowledge. "However, there is still much to be learned. You still have so much potential that is just sleeping."

Reimu swung her gohei at Konngara's face, the holy wooden wand managing to do a small amount of damage to the oni, though not that much. Konngara elbowed Reimu deep into the gut, causing the young maiden to once again fly across the dimension arena.

Konngara's katana had lightning surround its blade, the oni woman quickly running towards Reimu. The shrine maiden trainee didn't know how, but she was able to cartwheel out of the way, the lightning-covered blade grazing at her little body. Reimu made a quick slide towards the Yin-Yang Orb, the holy treasure bouncing off the invisible wall. Reimu threw an ofuda towards the Yin-Yang Orb, making it bounce higher into the air before Konngara swung her katana at it. The Yin-Yang Orb slammed down on the top of Konngara's head, the oni making a grunt of pain.

"You are doing well, Hakurei Trainee. I almost feel like I'm starting to lose this battle." Konngara said calmly, the blade of her weapon being set on fire. "And so I must no longer hold back because you are a child, I must give it my all against you."

The next thing Reimu knew, she was on fire and sent rolling along the ground of the weird dimension she is in, pain all around her body. The shrine maiden trainee turned to her side, a little whimper of pain escaping from her. Reimu groaned in pain as she eventually managed to push herself up, staggering onto her feet. Weakly raising her hand towards the Yin-Yang Orb, Reimu called the treasure over to her with her link to it. Reimu then fell down to her knees, her hands on the Yin-Yang Orb.

Konngara raised a hand towards Reimu, a sphere of fire appearing in her hand. Konngara shot out a beam of fire towards Reimu, the trainee closing her eyes as she focussed her power into the treasure. The Yin-Yang Orb glowed, Gyoku appeared form the orb and summoned a blue barrier to protect the current shrine maiden trainee.

"Lady Reimu, her power is greater than from what we have sensed before." Gyoku said, the guardian spirit repairing the cracks that appeared on the barrier that he had summoned. Konngara fired a stream of bullets towards the barrier that Gyoku created, more cracks appearing in the recently repaired barrier. "I don't know how much longer I can make this barrier last, you're either going to have to come up with something else or give up and lose to Konngara."

Give up? Reimu cannot give up to the opponent before her, especially when she has came so far to fight her. Giving up wasn't in Reimu either. Genji had even mentioned that her stubbornness is hereditary, like the power of the Hakurei shrine maidens.

Reimu closed her eyes and focussed her power. Everything around Reimu became quiet, like she was the only thing in existence; even her pain had became evanescent to her. She knows that she is still just a young maiden, and that she is still just a trainee, but she still tried to reach into herself. She was reaching in deep, trying to find her power, trying to find an attack or technique that has the power to defeat Konngara.

And in her little quest to find that power within her, Reimu had awoken a memory.

* * *

 _Reimu was running along a forest, chasing after a butterfly that has captivated her interest. She and her mother had originally came to the forest to go to a river, where her mother was fishing and humming happily to herself. Aimi Hakurei was dressed in the red-white outfit that was made specifically for Hakurei shrine maidens that have passed all trials and are no longer a trainee, passed along from mother to daughter for when each maiden becomes the new protector of Gensokyo. Reimu tried to fish with her mother, but she soon found herself getting bored. After rolling around on the grass and being bored, Reimu then came across a butterfly, which she started to chase after in interest._

 _Reimu then tripped, the little girl crying as she cut her knee. The ground beneath Reimu suddenly shook as something huge approached her, a giant creature blocking the sun as it towered over Reimu. The little brown-haired girl looked up, seeing a giant bear standing like a human. Reimu could barely see the giant bear's eyes from how much taller it was by her, not helped by the fact that she was sitting down. The bear then let out a loud roar that hurt Reimu's eyes before it suddenly lunged one of its giant paws down at her. The paw was as big as Reimu herself, it would crush her instantly._

 _Suddenly a speeding object had kicked the bear in the chest, the furry giant stumbling back from the force. Aimi Hakurei was in front of Reimu, the shrine maiden picking up her daughter and holding her to her chest with one hand. Reimu looked up at her mother's face, her brown eyes were glaring at the bear with intense rage. "Begone, Onikuma." Aimi said, pointing her gohei towards the giant bear as it stood in front of Aimi and her child. "If you walk away now, I will turn a blind eye to your attempt to eat my_ child _. But take one step closer and I will exterminate you."_

 _"Hungry!" The bear, Onikuma, roared, the trees ruffling from the force of the bear's roar._

 _Aimi didn't run away, flinch or even cover her ears from Onikuma's roar, the shrine maiden keeping her ground. "I offered you the chance to leave. Now I'm afraid that you must be punished." Aimi said, the shrine maiden effortlessly somersaulting away as Onikuma slammed its paw down where she was standing a few seconds ago, the ground cracking from the force of its paw._

 _"Hungry!" Onikuma roared. "Food! You food!"_

 _"Shh, shh, it's okay, Reimu. Mummy will make the bad bear go away." Aimi soothed as Reimu started crying, mostly because Onikuma's loud roaring. Aimi then glared at Onikuma as the bear stomped closer, the giant youkai actually freezing in fear from the shrine maiden's angry eyes. "It's too late for mercy. Face the power of a Hakurei shrine maiden, Fantasy Seal!"_

 _Six yin-yangs then surrounded Aimi's waist, spinning around, rising in power and heat as colour glowed in them; two glowing blue, two glowing red and two glowing green. The orbs began to grow in size, the heat and power coming from them also rising. Onikuma staggered away, it's brown eyes wide in fear. Aimi pointed her gohei towards Onikuma, her Fantasy Seal shooting towards the bear, firing it away towards a tree. The tree was uprooted and broke apart as the giant bear collided with it, the bear soon disappearing as it exploded into magical energy. Reimu watched in amazement, fascinated by the attack her mother unleashed on Onikuma._

 _Later that day, the Hakurei shrine maiden and her daughter were at the Hakurei shrine, Aimi was sitting on the shrine porch, her legs swinging as she sipped on her green tea. Aimi then felt a small tug on her detached sleeves, the brown-eyed maiden looking curiously to see her daughter. Aimi smiled at Reimu._

 _"What is it, my little ray of sunshine?" Aimi asked happily as she picked Reimu up, knowing that she wanted something from the look in her eyes._

 _"I have a question." Reimu said. "About earlier, with the bear."_

 _"Oh. Is it about the bear itself or the technique I used?" Aimi asked, remembering what happened as it only happened that morning earlier._

 _"Both." Reimu answered._

 _"Ah, I see. Well that bear is an onikuma, a type of bear youkai that can stand on its hind legs and are much larger than the regular bear; so big that they can pick up and carry cows and horses and even more boulders that even a group of normal men can't budge. They are usually nocturnal and rarely interact with humans, so it really must have been hungry when it approached you." Aimi answered, knowing what Reimu's question about the bear was. At least the little girl now knew that the bear was an onikuma, not a bear named Onikuma. "And the technique I used was Fantasy Seal; a powerful attack used by Hakurei shrine maidens. We reach deep into our powers and summon yin-yangs that home in on our enemies and hit them. They usually can one-shot most youkai."_

 _"Will you teach me how to use the Fantasy Seal, Mama?" Reimu asked._

 _Aimi chuckled, the woman putting her fingers over her mouth. "In the future. Maybe it'll be Genji that teaches you if I'm too busy with shrine maiden duties." The shrine maiden answered. "I'm afraid that you're too young at the moment. But don't worry, because one day when you need it, you'll find the Fantasy Seal within yourself."_

* * *

Reimu opened her eyes, pain surrounding her body once again. Gyoku was barely keep his barrier stable as Konngara kept on shooting bullets towards him, his blue barrier looking more like a pile of shards that were barely kept together. Sweat was falling down Gyoku's brow, the guardian spirit growing tired from all the energy he was using up. "I am sorry, Lady Reimu, but I can't last much longer." Gyoku said. "Very soon I'll be out of energy; I will have to return to the Yin-Yang Orb."

"It's okay, Gyoku." Reimu said calmly, she could now feel it inside her. It has always been there, but now she can reach it. The guardian spirit looked at the shrine maiden trainee dubiously, but knew that he can't last much longer outside of the Yin-Yang Orb, so thus he left Reimu to Konngara.

"You seem to have a sudden boost in your confidence." Konngara commented, the katana-wielding oni having ceased her attack. "What are you planning?"

"I have no plans, purely an attack." Reimu responded. The shrine maiden trainee put her hands on her chest and closed her eyes, focussing on the power within her. Six yin-yangs surrounded Reimu's waist, all being black and white. Konngara's eyes widened, the oni woman already being aware of what attack Reimu was going to pull off. "Fantasy Seal!"

The six yin-yang that surrounded Reimu's waist began spinning around the trainee at fast speeds as holy energy and heat began to build within them. Reimu's hair and kimono were flowing from the power coming from her, a bight light coming from under Reimu. " _How can this be? The Fantasy Seal is meant to be a technique taught to Hakurei shrine maiden trainees when they are reaching the end of their training! How is she able to use it at such a young age, without seemingly being taught?_ " Konngara thought as she shielded her eyes with her arms, the bright light that was coming from Reimu as she was using the Fantasy Seal for the first time being painful for Konngara's light-sensitive eyes. " _I knew that she had massive potential, even for a Hakurei, the moment she entered my throne room, but how can it be this great?!_ "

The six yin-yang that were surrounding Reimu grew in size and glowed with light, two green, two red and two blue. Reimu pointed her gohei towards Konngara, the oni flew into the air as the yin-yangs had flown towards her, changing trajectory and flying after her, due to their homing capabilities. Konngara flew as fast as she could, but the coloured yin-yang summoned by the Fantasy Seal, despite being summoned by a little girl who is still well into her basic training, were faster than her. Clutching at straws, Konngara swung her katana towards the Fantasy Seal, the six yin-yang surrounding the Astral Knight.

The yin-yang exploded, six giant explosions of three different colours engulfing Konngara, the ruler of Jigoku screaming in pain, her body falling down from the giant cloud created by the Fantasy Seal, a trail of smoke coming from Konngara as she fell down. Konngara slammed onto the invisible platform of the dimension she and Reimu are in, unconscious and defeated.

"I won!" Reimu cheered. The shrine maiden trainee suddenly felt immense exhaustion overwhelm her, falling down unconscious.

* * *

When Reimu came to, she found herself laying down on Konngara's hand, the oni woman giant, her green spheres surrounding the purple-haired shrine maiden trainee, healing her and replenishing her lost energy. Though, in the end, Reimu still felt like she could go back to her shrine and sleep under the kotatsu for a few hours. Maybe the green spheres that Konngara uses don't fully replenish lost energy. Nevertheless, Reimu found herself to now be awake but in need of some more sleep.

Konngara made a sigh of relief, the giantess' sigh being like a loud blow of wind that almost blew Reimu off the giant's hand. "I was worried that you might have died from using up all your energy from that last attack." Konngara said. Reimu noticed that Kikuri was once again a pendant wrapped around the oni's neck, and that they were both back in Konngara's throne room instead of the odd dimension that she sent them both to for their battle. Konngara smiled down at Reimu. "Congratulations, Reimu of the Hakureis, you have bested me in battle. For that, I will close the portal between Jigoku and Gensokyo. But I won't do that until you are back in your home dimension."

Konngara stood up with Reimu still sitting down on her hand. The giant oni approached the door of her throne room, opening it to see a large group of little devils that looked like little girls in dresses with bat-like wings and horns. They flew in front of their master, looking at her curiously. One little devil finally flew forward, Konngara quickly recognised her as the one that supplied her with the information of Aimi Hakurei's death. Maybe she can explain this odd sight.

"What is the reason for all of you swarming outside of my throne room, Servant?" Konngara asked, the vibrations of her voice once again almost sending the devils flying.

"T-t-the shrine maiden that you hold on your palm had taken us down in search for you." The devil stammered in answer, her hands folded in front of her, bowing down to the giant woman that reigns over her home dimension with terrifying power. "And when she came in, t-the doors closed they wouldn't open. We heard many sounds coming from inside, and it sound like you were fighting against her, b-but we didn't know how it would turn out. We all gathered here in hope of f-finding out what was going on, Lady Konngara."

"I see..." Konngara responded, the giant oni soon waving her hand at her many little girl-like servants. "Continue your duties. The portal to Gensokyo is now closing; the little girl you see in my hand has fought me so that I would stop our fun plans and has won the battle."

Multiple moans of disappointment came from the myriad of devils, though they soon silenced themselves as their giant master sent them all a mean look. Konngara began walking out of her castle and too the torii gate where she opened the portal, keeping Reimu sitting on her palm.

"Hey, Konngara...?" Reimu asked, looking up at the lady with a red horn in the centre of her forehead.

"Hrmm?" Konngara responded, looking back down at Reimu. The shrine maiden trainee had briefly noticed the rotting shrine with the perfectly fine hokora that she fought against Mima near as she and Konngara passed it, but she focussed more on Konngara.

"Why did you originally open the portal between here and Gensokyo in the first place?" Reimu asked. "I know that you probably wanted to unleash havoc on Gensokyo, but was there some other motive that you had?"

"Well I did wanted to test your abilities, to see if you are fit to be a Hakurei shrine maiden, mostly because of a contract that I made with a certain someone to make this place my territory." Konngara answered, the oni woman not stopping as she was walking and keeping focussed on where she was going, careful to not step on the houses of some of the demons of her realm. "Though some good old havoc is a lot of fun, and Gensokyo did seem like an ideal place. If you didn't defeat me, or weren't fast enough, then I would have opened more portals to Gensokyo. If that happened, then there would be quite an incident in Gensokyo. A lot of the members of Jigoku are pretty strong, y'know."

"I don't know." Reimu responded, remembering her victories in her small course of time. "I did beat many of them up. And I managed to beat you and Kikuri, and you two are meant to be the two strongest of this place."

"Might I remind you that you needed healing both before and after your respective battle with me and Kikuri." Konngara said, slight annoyance in her voice. "Aren't I right, Kikuri?"

"Indeed, Milady." Kikuri responded, still attached to the chain around Konngara's neck.

Konngara had finally approached the torii gate, the barrier placed by Reimu still remaining strong. Little demons that were like hairless, cat-like humanoids scampered away as Konngara came close, soon disappearing from sight.

Konngara had kneeled down, the giant lowering her hand so Reimu could jump off the body part. The trainee pulled out her Yin-Yang Orb, the purple-haired maiden summoning the image of Gyoku over the holy sphere, the priest spirit instructing Reimu on how to disable the barrier. Following everything that the spirit was telling her to every last detail, Reimu managed to vanish the blue barrier that she had created. Reimu turned around, the trainee becoming somewhat surprised as she saw that the oni had used her magical powers to shrink down to her human adult size. Reimu would have been surprised further by the giant's change in size, but already seeing Konngara shrink before her eyes had already made Reimu used to the spectacle of Konngara being smaller.

Reimu turned back towards the portal in the torii, the little girl passing through, immediately shivering as the cold night air of Gensokyo had chilled her again, especially after adapting to the heat of Jigoku. Reimu turned back around, hoping to either see the portal to Jigoku gone, or to see Konngara closing the portal. Reimu did see Konngara closing the portal, only that Konngara was in Gensokyo as she was doing so.

"Wait, aren't you supposed to be inside Jigoku?" Reimu asked as Konngara had closed the portal between Jigoku and Gensokyo completely, the shrunken giant turning back towards Reimu, her face not showing any sense of offense to Reimu's words.

"True, I should return to Jigoku, especially as the residents of my dimension can become even more wild and rowdy without me to keep things in control, but I wish to have a chat with your guardian first." Konngara answered casually. "I believe that your guardian's name is Genji, isn't it? Where may I meet him?"

"I'm right here." A somewhat drowsy voice, like that of someone who just woke up, said. Reimu and Konngara turned to the side of the gate, where the tired voice spoke, seeing a large turtle that looked like he just woke up. "I was waiting here for Reimu's return. I must have dozed off while waiting. That's what I get for waking up when I usually sleep."

"D-did I wake you up, Genji?" Reimu asked, referring to the turtle spirit by his name.

"No, I was just feeling restless and came to check up on you. When I saw that you weren't in the shrine and the portal to Jigoku was open, it wasn't hard to connect that dots. I simply fell asleep and woke up when you both returned. Ultimately, I am happy to see you in a good condition." Genji responded, smiling at the shrine maiden trainee. Genji's old eyes then noticed little black circles underneath Reimu's eyes. "However it seems that a lack of sleep is starting to take its effects on you. You should go back into the shrine and go to sleep. Now."

Reimu did began to feel a feeling of tiredness that was happening regardless of the healing spheres that Konngara had used, her body incapable of keeping her energy. Reimu didn't bother arguing with the ancient spirit, her eyes being near impossible to keep open, the world around her starting to tilt and grow blurry. Reimu casually waved at Genji and Konngara, the trainee walking into her shrine and closing the doors behind her. Genji looked at Konngara, a mixture of anger and annoyance in his eyes as he looked at the usually giant woman. Konngara didn't react much to Genji's glare, her red eyes showing nothing but a sense of amusement towards the Hakurei spirit.

"She sure is a strong one..." Konngara commented casually, looking towards the Hakurei shrine, where Reimu was most likely sleeping. After all, she is still human and still a child; sleep is still a necessity for her survival and such. Of course, being an oni, and a deva among that, Konngara didn't have to worry much about sleep; at least she didn't have to worry about it like the humans do. "Quite surprising, considering her young age. You rarely ever find any little children, Hakurei or not, with that level of strength. Of course she still has a long way to go, I know a few of her ancestors who are stronger than she is now."

"You had to be impatient, didn't you?" Genji asked, his annoyance evident in his voice. "Do you have _any_ idea how scared and then angry I was when I found the shrine doors open with her not in the shrine, with a portal in the torii, sealed by a barrier that can only be cast by a priestess, priest or shrine maiden? You're lucky that I'm not snapping off your fingers, among other things. I can tolerate the presence of youkai around the shrine, but I want _you_ to be out of my sight this instance."

"I know that she is a child, and I was unsure as I was made to cause this incident, but it's not as though this was fully my own idea." Konngara responded, the oni flying up in the air and sitting down on the torii gate, facing towards the rest of Gensokyo, seeing faint lights of a far away village where humans resided, as well as faint lights in the forest caused by battles between magical humans and youkai. Genji appeared beside Konngara, the turtle keeping his glower towards the horned woman as he sat down on the red gate. Konngara sighed. "If you want to be pissed off at someone, go and complain to Sariel; he is the one that made me partake in the test in the first place."

Genji was surprised, Konngara's response had only made questions emerge within his skull. "Why would he care about the current shrine maiden and the state of Gensokyo?" Genji asked, the old turtle raising an eyebrow as he looked at Konngara, the rage in his eyes being replaced by confusion. "He lives in Makai and is a seraphim of death, not to mention that he and his sister have cared very little for the existence of Gensokyo in the past. What could they possibly have to gain?"

"You're answers are as good as mine." Konngara shrugged, the oni crossing her legs. "Could it be because he fears that the youkai of Gensokyo would move to Makai if this world were to be destroyed? Does he have a contract with the Hakurei God? Does he fear the wrath of the Hakurei God because he didn't live up to some promise related to the survival of the Hakurei shrine maidens? Or maybe the Gap Youkai will annoy him and his sister endlessly if he doesn't take part in Reimu's training. Understanding those entities will only rip your mind asunder. It's best to not question the motives of beings that go beyond even our comprehension."

Genji squinted his eyes; it would be hard to come close to even understanding such absurd motives. "Don't you have a location of Hell to keep peace in?" Genji asked, his old eyes looking up towards the usually gigantic woman sitting next to him on the torii.

"Ah yes, if I'm not back soon then Jigoku will be spinning off its foundation once again." Konngara responded casually, seemingly standing on the air as she stood up. The ruler of Jigoku opened a portal to the aforementioned dimension. Konngara entered and closed the portal without saying goodbye, not that Genji cared much for that.

The ancient spirit flew off the torii, flying towards the shrine and using his head to open the front door. Genji closed the door behind him, peeking poking his underneath the kotatsu, seeing Reimu sleeping and covered up in blankets. Genji smiled at Reimu, even though he usually wouldn't want to find her sleeping under the table, he could tell that she was greatly enjoying the warmth and was sleeping peacefully. Genji crawled underneath the kotatsu, his legs seemingly receding into his shell as he pressed his head against Reimu, the spirit falling asleep, alongside the shrine maiden trainee.

* * *

Konngara walked through the hallway of her castle in Jigoku, the Astral Knight having regained her regular, gigantic size. Konngara's castle had shook and rumbled slightly from the force of the giant's footsteps. Little girl-like devils flew around, usually either cleaning the messes or repairing the damages done to the castle when Reimu had burst in and began searching for Konngara. The former deva was still surprised from that trick that Reimu had pulled off. Her best understanding was that she had seen the Fantasy Seal and had copied from memory, she greatly doubted that Genji would have taught her when she was in this stage of her training, especially with her current age.

Maybe Konngara will pay the shrine maiden trainee as visit sometime in the future, not for purposes related to training but purely to visit her. She had opened the door to her throne room, sitting down on throne that was about as large as a house. Konngara picked up her hand mirror that usually resided on arm of the throne. To her it was small enough to hold in her hand, but to humans it could be used as something to crush them.

Konngara had pressed her finger down on the jewel of her hand mirror, throwing it away as it changed to be a full body mirror. The reflection of her soon turned into a purple area, a silhouette appearing. The silhouette cleared, showing a feminine-looking man, with long hair and eyes of light purple colour, six wings behind his back that made it look like he had large wings when looked upon as a silhouette.

"What have you called me for, Konngara?" The man asked, he was calm in tome and expression; not showing even a flicker of annoyance in his light purple eyes.

"The trainee has fought me and won." Konngara answered, keeping as calm of a demeanour as possible. The man in front of her wasn't one to tolerate foolish behaviour, or at least behaviour that he deemed as foolish. "She is but a little girl, but she is strong. She has even shown to be capable of using the Fantasy Seal, but using such an attack has left her drained to the point of unconsciousness. I can already tell that she has incredible potential, even among the Hakurei family. There, I have given you the information you wanted. Is that all the you wanted?"

The man reflected in the mirror was silent, an unknown emotion in his otherwise empty eyes. Konngara slightly wondered just what it is that something like him would think and feel. "Interesting. I no longer require your information, Konngara. You can do as you wish." The man responded, waving his hand dismissively towards Konngara. The image of the man rippled away, reverting back to the image of Konngara's reflection, the full body mirror turning back into the hand mirror.

The small mirror fell back to the ground, the glass not shattering in even the slightest due to an enchantment placed on it by Konngara. Konngara stood up, picking the magical mirror back up and placing it back down onto the throne arm. Konngara slumped back down, cupping a hand underneath the bronze medal strung around her neck.

"I swear, Kikuri, he's planning something." Konngara said to the aforementioned champion.

"Something like him can never be understood, except by a being that is as impossibly incomprehensible as him." Kikuri responded solemnly. "But do not worry, Lady Konngara, I'm certain that everything of the future will be alright in the end."

Konngara sighed, looking into the air. "I don't know, Kikuri." The Astral Knight breathed, seemingly disappearing into a world of her own. "I just have an uneasy feeling about Sariel."

* * *

 **Author's Note: There goes the first half of the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc, with Konngara being defeated and seemingly befriended by Reimu.**

 **Yes, I decided to make Sariel a male character. This kind of comes from the fact that the angels that Sariel is seemingly based off of are male characters, as well as I kind of see him as an opposite to Shinki; while Shinki is a demon that has created an entire dimension and countless demons that live within it (spoilers), Sariel is an angel of death, so he essentially does the opposite of creating life. Besides, there isn't that many male Touhou characters (not that that is a pet peeve in the slightest) so I did that to even things out a bit.**

 **He could probably just have long hair and a dress because he is either feminine, doesn't fully understand the concepts of males and females because he might have a bit of an alien mind, or it all is just a form that he chose to pick (so I guess there's some inspiration from _Imperfect Metamorphosis_ in this).**

 **I decided the premiere the Fantasy Seal a little early, since I couldn't really think of any other way that Reimu could defeat Konngara, since she had such a hard time against Kikuri, and Konngara is meant to be stronger. I could have used Fantasy Heaven, but I actually have _that_ attack's premiere thought out... to an extent.**

 **I also decided to give Aimi Hakurei some screen time (albeit, short-lived screen time) in Reimu's flashback, mostly to give her some character and to create an origin for how Reimu knows about the Fantasy Seal move.**

 **By the way, the onikuma is a real youkai of Japanese folklore that I decided to use. I could have used a random youkai without any real description, but I decided to use a youkai from folklore that hasn't appeared in Touhou instead.**

 **Reviews of any kind, even constructive criticism, is welcomed.**


	6. Makai's Gatekeeper, YuugenMagan

It had been days, weeks even, since Reimu had made her trip to Jigoku and defeated Konngara. Her training had continued regularly, though Genji has started to train her further, so her training had became a lot harder and a lot more exhausting. She has finally managed to achieve and do more simple shrine maiden duties, like exterminating weaker youkai and performing simple fortunes. Reimu has managed to succeed in most of her training. Most.

Every time Genji tried to teach Reimu how to fly, it would be meaningless. Genji did admit that it is worrying how she is unable to fly in a world where over ninety percent of the population can fly without breaking a sweat, especially as she is the Hakurei shrine maiden. This got Reimu sad, but he had reassured her that she'll learn how to fly eventually.

Right now Reimu was resting on the shrine porch, a cup of green tea beside her as she ate some dango. As Reimu was eating the last piece of dango off the wooden skewer, she opened an eye and looked at the torii gate, wondering if Konngara will visit. Ever since the incident, the Astral Knight has been visiting the Hakurei shrine from time to time, usually to meet Reimu. Genji wasn't a fan of it at first, but he warmed up. Konngara usually visited by opening a portal between Jigoku and Gensokyo, usually within the torii gate.

"Is something on your mind, Lady Reimu?" Genji asked as he appeared beside Reimu.

"No~." The shrine maiden trainee responded casually, picking up another skewer and eating the dango on it.

Genji layed down beside Reimu, his head lowering and resting against the wooden boards of the shrine's porch as he relaxed. Suddenly, Genji felt an odd energy in the air; of considerable magic power of an odd nature. It felt like something from Jigoku, or any other area of Hell, but it also had another different feeling. But that different feeling was also familiar. It felt similar to Sariel's power, but it still had a certain something to it that made it feel different. It was weaker than Sariel's, but it felt like the source of the power was relative to the seraphim's power.

Genji rose, the turtle moving his head around as he tried to find who or what was giving off the odd energy, but the unknown target was seemingly darting the shrine grounds. Reimu looked and blinked at Genji in confusion, wondering what was the reason behind his sudden and odd behaviour. Suddenly a shadow moved past the shrine maiden trainee's face, the dango in her hand suddenly disappearing.

"Hey, what happened?!" Reimu said as she looked at her empty hand. Genji looked at Reimu, sensing a faint trace of the power which quickly vanished. "Something took my food!"

A high-pitched giggle was heard within the shrine, Reimu and Genji looked inside to see a pair of purple eyes looking at them in glee from the darkness. The unknown figure then leapt forward, flying past Reimu and Genji as nothing more than a strange shadow. The human and the spirit heard the flapping of large wings behind them, the sound of flapping wings moving from behind them to the torii gate. Reimu quickly spun around towards the torii gate to see what looked like a little girl sitting atop of it. She had the aforementioned purple eyes, long blonde hair that reached down over her shoulders and had a large red bow in her hair. She wore a white shirt underneath a blue vest with a red bow and a red dress with purple markings near its edges. She also has large bat wings on her back and was holding a white wand topped with a star.

 **Mischievous 'Innocent' Devil**

 **Elis**

"Hey, give me back my food!" Reimu yelled as Elis began to eat her dango, the trainee pulling out some of her ofuda and throwing them at the devil. Elis flew high into the air, landing atop of the shrine, still munching on what little remained of the dango on the skewer. Reimu growled in annoyance. "I've already proved that I'm stronger than your master, I'm going to send you back to Jigoku full of bruises!"

"Lady Reimu, she's not a demon from Jigoku." Genji said, the turtle walking towards the little girl and standing beside her as he looked at Elis, the devil remaining on the roof of the shrine as she threw away the empty skewer carelessly. "No, I can tell from her aura that she's a Makai demon."

"Makai?" Reimu asked, looking down at Genji. "What's a Makai?"

"Makai is a dimension created by a demon-like divine entity. That same divine entity also created hundreds, if not thousands, of powerful demons that inhabit the dimension." The turtle explained. "They don't usually like to appear in Gensokyo. "I have no idea what she is capable of, I've never met her before, so be cautious of her."

Reimu looked back from Genji to Elis, the demon swooping down and appearing in front of the trainee, showing herself to be Reimu's height. "Hello, I'm Elis and I'll be your best friend forever." The Makai demon said, holding Reimu's hands in her own, giving the maiden a seemingly genuine, kind smile.

"Really?" Reimu asked, a smile appearing on her face.

Elis lost her kind smile, the blonde female sneering at the maiden. "Nah, I'm just pullin' your leg, chump." Elis responded, her innocent tone becoming mocking. Elis suddenly pulled her arms down whilst her hands were still holding onto Reimu's, causing the purple-haired female to fall to the floor where an inexplicable patch of dirt laid, her face going into the patch of dirt. Elis had one hand over her stomach as the other was pointing at Reimu while she laughed at the maiden's misfortune. "That's the funny thing 'bout you humans, especially the young ones; its so easy to fool all of you for a good laugh."

"Leave this area at once!" Genji yelled, powerful holy energy surrounding him as he glared at Kikuri. The Makai demon was caught off guard and scared at first, but she has been exposed to greater power levels in her home dimension, so she easily regained her composure. Indeed, Elis had seemingly sat in the air with her legs crossed. "I have no idea what you are doing here, but if you're only here to play tricks on the shrine maiden, then go back home!"

"Shrine maiden? What shrine maiden? All that this place has is a mere trainee, a little girl." Elis responded, looking at Genji and Reimu, the latter of whom having gotten back on her feet and rubbed her face clean, with a smug grin. "I can do whatever I want here without you stopping me~!"

" _Elis._ " A male voice spoke in the demon's head telepathically, being calm with a sense of annoyance in it. The wand-wielding demon stopped looking smug as she pressed her index and middle finger against her temple, strengthening her telepathic bond to the male to talk to him.

"Yes, Master?" Elis asked, the demon confusing Reimu and Genji as they didn't hear the voice, nor did they feel the link.

" _Remember your mission._ " 'Master' said, his tone remaining calm. " _I only allowed you your access into Gensokyo for the purpose of your mission. Don't you dare dilly-dally, or else you shall know of the consequences._ "

"Yes, Master." Elis responded, removing her fingers form her temple as the telepathic connection ended. Elis then flew to the top of the torii gate, sitting down on it and grinning at Reimu. "Hey, Eggplant Face, if ya wanna be a cool girl like me, then come back with me to Makai, where all the cool girls hang out."

"She will do nothing of the sort!" Genji yelled, the turtle spirit preparing to fire his holy danmaku at her. "She is still a little girl and Makai has been separate from Gensokyo for decades. As long as I stand, she won't-!"

"Hey, this conversation is only for the baddest girls in the East only. Go back to bed, Fossil Face." Elis yelled, holding her wand high as a purple sphere appeared over the white star. Elis then pointed her wand towards Genji, the purple sphere flying towards the ancient turtle and hitting him in the face. Genji blinked as the sphere turned into purple glitter than fell over his face before disappearing. Genji's eyes started to feel heavy, his body feeling like gravity had just increased dramatically. Genji then fell asleep, much to Reimu's surprise. Elis grinned at Reimu again. "So why don't you come over to Makai and see where the coolest live."

"You just made Gramps fall asleep!" Reimu yelled, the trainee pulling out ofuda from within her sleeves. "Wake him up right now or else I'll beat you up until he does!"

Elis frowned at Reimu, now knowing that her plan wouldn't work. Though that didn't matter much, as Elis is a quick thinker and had thus changed tactics, grinning at Reimu once again. "If you want me to cast a spell to wake the old lizard up, you're gonna have to beat me."

Reimu flared her nostrils, running back into the shrine and coming out with her gohei and the Yin-Yang Orb in small form. "Very well, I'll beat you until you beg for mercy." The trainee said. Elis laughed at the maiden, waving her wand around her demon body, sparkles coming from the white star. Elis' body suddenly changed into that of a small bat, frightening Reimu slightly.

"You're gonna have to catch me if you wanna beat me~." Elis said in a high-pitched voice, the bat flying away with a high-pitched giggle.

Reimu growled, the shrine maiden trainee running after the bat as she was flying away, The Yin-Yang Orb, still shrunken and in Reimu's hand, glowed with holy energy. "Lady Reimu." A feminine voice said from beside the running maiden.

Reimu looked to her side as she continued to run, seeing the translucent image of a priestess floating beside her. "Sin?" Reimu asked, the trainee avoiding bushes and rocks as she chased after Elis. "What are you doing out here?"

"She could be leading you into a trap." Sin answered plainly, the priestess spirit flying through trees and other parts of Gensokyo as she floated alongside the running maiden. "I do not think that just running after her is the best idea."

"I don't have any other ideas. She is the one that cast the sleeping spell and I don't know anyone else who knows magic, so she's really my best hope." Reimu said, the little girl growling angrily as the small bat that Elis turned into was beginning to disappear. The bat then flew into a cave within a big rock that came from the ground, a sort of supernatural energy coming from the rock.

"Just be careful, Lady Reimu." Sin said, the female of the twin spirit disappearing back into the Yin-Yang Orb.

Reimu ran into the cave, the shrine maiden trainee continuing to run through it as she chased after the bat that Elis turned into persistently. It was after a few minutes of running that Reimu began to notice that the cave was much bigger on the inside than on the outside, in fact she should have probably ran straight through it at least five times already. Reimu could feel a magic energy in the air, one that felt alien, especially in comparison to all other magics that she has felt. Elis' magic had felt similar, but this one was vastly more powerful.

Dear gods, how Reimu hopes that this cave isn't making Elis' magic grow stronger.

There were tiny diamonds and jewels within the cave's insides - from within the walls, the ceiling and even the ground - illuminating the cave and allowing Reimu to see through it as she chased after Elis. Well, Reimu hoped that she was chasing after Elis, as she had lost track of the bat earlier ago, though there was only one possible path to run in the cave, at least to Reimu's eyes.

The magic energy in the air was pulsing and growing stronger as Reimu went deeper into the cave, the trainee coming across a large gate with the same illuminating jewels within it. A bat was hanging from the ceiling, flying down in front of Reimu and surrounding itself in white sparkles, turning back in Elis. "So ya followed me here, eh Chump? I gotta admit, you're pretty determined for a little girl. More importantly, you're determined for a human." Elis said, the little devil snapping her fingers. The large gate opening up, a blinding purple light coming from the now open gate. Elis grinned at Reimu, especially as the trainee was becoming effected by the brightness of the light. "If ya wanna fight me and wake the fossil up, you're gonna have to come to Makai first. But you gotta beat ol' Lightning Eyes to pass. Good luck, Chump."

Elis then jumped back into the gate, the large doors closing as her demon body entered. Reimu ran towards the door, ready to open the magical gate and enter after Elis, but the purple-haired maiden was pushed back by a sudden and powerful electric force. Reimu's back had slammed against the ground, the shrine maiden looking at the gate to see lightning crackling around the large doors.

Five strange-looking disks suddenly floated in front of the gate, spinning around in a circle. Red, bloodshot eyes opened on each of the disks, each taking up most of the space of their respective disks. The eyes stared at Reimu, lightning crackling around them. The disks then became connected by what looked like lines of lightning, creating a star shape of sorts between them.

"Halt, Hakurei Maiden. You must pass YuugenMagan first." The eyes said, their voice sounding slightly weird as they spoke in a perfect unison.

"YuugenMagan? Who is YuugenMagan?" Reimu asked.

"We are YuugenMagan." The eyes responded, spinning around again. "YuugenMagan is the guard of Makai's gate. We won't let you pass."

 **The Evil Eyes that Guard the Gates of Pandemonium**

 **YuugenMagan**

"Well move out of the way, a demon of Makai came to my shrine and stole my food, and then she used a spell to make my grandpa fall asleep." Reimu said, pointing her gohei towards the electric demon. The trainee kept a serious and stern face, but it did nothing to intimidate the collective demon that is YuugenMagan. "So move out of the way or else I'll beat you up until you let me pass. Don't test me, I defeated Konngara. If I can beat her, then I can surely beat you."

"Do not humour YuugenMagan. Konngara and YuugenMagan are different." YuugenMagan said, the seemingly male demon (judging from its voice) keeping its sentences short and simple. "Many humans have faced YuugenMagan. Many humans try to enter Makai. Many humans lose to YuugenMagan. You are a child. You are a mere trainee. Turn away and leave, child. YuugenMagan isn't as passionate at hurting young creatures."

Reimu threw out the Yin-Yang Orb, the holy item growing in size. Reimu whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards one of YuugenMagan's eyes, the bloodshot eye closing. The Yin-Yang Orb bounced off the disk, the eye opening once again. All five of YuugenMagan's eyes displayed a solemn look of pity, of not wanting to fight.

"Do not force YuugenMagan. YuugenMagan will only leave you in pain." YuugenMagan said. "We are a powerful demon. Do not make YuugenMagan angry."

"I'm a powerful human, I can fight against you and beat you." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee throwing ofuda at YuugenMagan. The paper talismans were faster than the Yin-Yang Orb, hitting YuugenMagan in one of the open eyes. The demon made a yell of pain, the paper actually managing to hurt him. Reimu noticed the reaction in the demon, the eye that got hit closing as it was hurt while the other eyes widened from the pain caused to the strange, composite demon. "So the eyes are its weak spot... it's a good thing that most of its body is its eyes."

YuugenMagan glared at Reimu, the electricity coming from the disks that made its body crackling dangerously as the demons power spiked; the demon no longer wanting to conceal its power. "Insolent brat!" YuugenMagan snarled. "YuugenMagan didn't want to do this, but you forced us. You will be lucky to survive. We will show you pain unlike any other."

Three of YuugenMagan's eyes had closed, the top one and the bottom two, leaving the two middle eyes opened. The two eyes shot bullets towards Reimu, the trainee running out of the way of the bullets. Reimu swung her gohei around, sending the Yin-Yang Orb bouncing off the walls, hitting one of the eyes. YuugenMagan didn't react with any screams or flinches as the ball hit it in the eye, the demon seemingly being more prepared for the damage that Reimu can unleash on it.

The two eyes closed, the top eye opening up. YuugenMagan shot a laser of pure, white magical energy towards Reimu, the maiden running away from the laser as it had seemingly chased after her. Reimu threw her ofuda towards the laser, the paper amulets unsurprisingly disintegrating as they made contact with the laser, the heat and power of the laser being enough to burn the jewel filled ground.

"We won't lose." YuugenMagan said as it opened the other four eyes. Sparks of lightning were being released by the yellow demon, causing pieces of the cave to break upon impact. "Demons are invincible compared to humans."

The five eyes shot out lighting towards Reimu, the trainee barely hearing the loud bangs caused by the electrical attacks over the loud sound of her heart in her ears. Reimu threw ofuda towards YuugenMagan, the demon destroying the amulets with its lightning bolts. Reimu then attempted to whack her Yin-Yang Orb towards YuugenMagan, the magical item managing to successfully fight back against the lightning as it continued moving forward, once again hitting the yellow demon in one of its five eyes.

The top eye and two middle eyes of YuugenMagan closed, the two bottom eyes remaining open. "YuugenMagan will not lose to a little girl with little techniques. We have lived for centuries without defeat from humans." YuugenMagan said, shooting out red, needle-like projectiles from the centre of its red eyes. Reimu swung her gohei at the needle projectiles as they came close, destroying them, though many more came as they were being shot in rapid succession. Reimu was hit by the needle-like projectiles.

Reimu rolled out of the way of the other needles as YuugenMagan had temporarily stopped firing the projectiles, seemingly to recharge its attack. The Yin-Yang Orb bounced around the walls of the cave as Reimu hit it again, the purple-haired maiden running out of the way as the two bottom eyes closed and the two middle eyes opened, sending long, curving lines of white pellets towards Reimu. The trainee threw ofuda at the bullets, destroying them and protecting her from them.

Reimu threw ofuda towards the eyes, making contact and seemingly hurting the demon, though they did they little to stop the demon from its pursuit. YuugenMagan closed both of his bottom eyes, opening its left middle eye. A laser shot out of the eye, grazing at the side of Reimu's head. The purple-eyed trainee swung the gohei at the Yin-Yang Orb as it bounced towards to her, the ancient weapon bouncing off the wall and hitting YuugenMagan in the currently open eye.

YuugenMagan opened its bottom right eye, shooting out a torrent of the white bullets. Reimu skidded out of the way of the bullets as they seemingly chased her, throwing ofuda towards the eye as it remained open. The eye quickly closed, the bottom right eye opening and shooting a rapid line of the same needle-like projectiles towards Reimu. This time the trainee ran away from the projectiles, knowing that their rapid fire would make it meaningless to destroy them with ofuda and maybe even the Yin-Yang Orb.

"YuugenMagan has figured out how you attack. We won't lose this battle to you." YuugenMagan said as it changed eyes again, the middle right one shooting out orbs of lightning that chased after Reimu shortly before exploding. Reimu tumbled along the ground from the force of the explosion, the maiden getting back up as YuugenMagan closed its middle right eye and opened its top eye, shooting around a laser from its pupil.

" _C'mon, I defeated Konngara, she's meant to be the ruler of Jigoku and a really powerful oni. I must be able to defeat this weird demon._ " Reimu thought as she ran to the side of the little arena in the cave, as the laser was exceptionally big. The top eye stopped the laser, seemingly recharging its energy. Reimu ran away from the side of the cave that she was hugging, swinging the Yin-Yang Orb into the air and hitting the open eye of YuugenMagan. The strange eye demon once again fired a laser, this time toward the wall that Reimu hugged earlier ago to avoid the first laser. The Yin-Yang Orb bounced around towards Reimu, the trainee hitting it with her strength, trying to hit the top eye again, though this time the orb had missed YuugenMagan. Reimu pressed her back against the wall as the laser came closer to her, the white beam of hot magic grazing at her nose before disappearing. The pupil of YuugenMagan's top eye then shot out two lasers, both half the size of the original one laser, but still being huge and hard to run away from.

The lasers were aimed at both of the sides of the cave, causing Reimu to be caught between them. The two lasers were coming closer to Reimu, there was an extremely small space between her and the two lasers before then disappeared, allowing Reimu to sigh in relief as the two lasers made her tense when she thought they would destroy her.

Reimu then received a hard bonk on the head as the Yin-Yang Orb landed on the top of her head. YuugenMagan laughed, all eyes closed and shaking, making it seem like they were just five demons instead of a demon with five bodies. Actually, maybe it is actually the former.

"That was funny." YuugenMagan said, the demon opening all four of its eyes to look at Reimu. "YuugenMagan never seen that before. Funniest we've ever seen. You're not a good shrine maiden."

You're not a good shrine maiden, the demon's words echoed in Reimu's head. The trainee was at first left unsure on how to react, but the decision had came to her as she felt a hot, burning rage ignite within her. "Excuse me!" Reimu yelled, the shrine maiden trainee gripping at her gohei and ofuda. YuugenMagan didn't flinch or shudder under the maiden's glare, it saw her as only a little girl that didn't know what powers she wielded. Powers that are inferior to that of the demons of Makai. "Say that again, I dare you...!"

"You're not a good shrine maiden." YuugenMagan repeated, more deadpan this time. All five eyes were open and looking at Reimu, YuugenMagan created a star between all of the eyes, the star floating outwards and floating a distance from the demon. The star then began to rapidly shoot out white pellets from its points, though Reimu didn't feel fear. No, the trainee had only remained angry as she continued to glare at the yellow demon.

The star spun around, causing some of the pellets to be aimed towards Reimu. The purple-haired little girl swatted away the pellets with her gohei, using her connection with the Yin-Yang Orb to make it roll to her side. Reimu then rapidly began to swing the Orb towards YuugenMagan, the yin-yang bouncing off the demon upon hitting it in one of its five eyes. YuugenMagan refused to close its eyes, seemingly like it had to keep them open to focus on the star that it was firing bullets from.

The star had ceased firing but continued to spin, this time it was beginning to move towards Reimu, the shrine maiden running away from the spinning star attack. The five eyes began to shoot lasers from their eyes again, the lasers being thin and aimed in front of the eyes towards the ground, however little pellets had also shot out of the eyes, however they did little to stop Reimu as she continued to fire ofuda and the Yin-Yang Orb towards the eyes, being the demon's weak point.

YuugenMagan was no longer operating under the strategy it was using against Reimu earlier, maybe the demon was coming close to being defeated and decided to just go all out against Reimu. It was all hard to tell as YuugenMagan was remaining silent throughout the rest of the fight.

The five eyes began to squint as they focussed their electrical energy into the centre between them, creating a giant electrical sphere. Reimu was brought out of her serious mood as she saw the giant electrical sphere, especially as it grew in size. The Yin-Yang Orb flew towards Reimu, pulsing with light and holy energy. Gyoku appeared as an image above the yin-yang, a serious look in the priest spirit's eyes.

"Lady Reimu, that Makai demon is charging up a powerful attack." Gyoku said. "You need to hold onto the Yin-Yang Orb and try to activate a protective barrier."

Reimu listened to the male twin spirit, holding tight onto the yin-yang. The holy energy within the orb flared as the electrical bomb started to fly towards Reimu, a blue, translucent barrier appeared in front of Reimu, square-shaped and looking similar to a holy talisman. The electrical bomb exploded upon contact with the barrier, the aforementioned barrier protecting the shrine maiden trainee from the power and sparks of electricity that came from the electric explosion. Though electricity had still gotten in Reimu's hair, leaving it feeling like static.

Reimu's hair was left pointing up and spiky, sparks of electricity sparking around the hair. The maiden began rubbing her hair, turning it back to normal before focusing back on the Makai demon that was keeping her from entering the aforementioned realm.

YuugenMagan was beginning to make a breathing sound; the same huffs and puffs that a person makes when exhausted. YuugenMagan did sweat, but Reimu could still understand that it was getting tired. All of the five eyes widened, letting out a burst of white bullets towards the purple-haired maiden. Reimu whacked the Yin-Yang Orb, the holy weapon shooting towards the top eye of YuugenMagan that remained open, easily breaking past the white bullets that were being sent towards the trainee. The yin-yang hit YuugenMagan square in the centre of his top eye.

YuugenMagan suddenly let out a scream, coming from all eyes. The electricity coming from all of the disks ceasing, the aforementioned disks falling down to the ground.

Reimu looked at YuugenMagan, the Makai demon defeated, by her hand. The little girl walked towards the disks, wondering if they would react to her coming closer. The disks, YuugenMagan, did react as they shook on the ground before floating upwards, electricity connecting the disks together with lines of lightning, electricity crackling around the disks as the eyes opened.

"You have beaten YuugenMagan." The demon said, not sounding respectful or proud, but not sounding angry either. "No human has beaten YuugenMagan before. You are a strong trainee. But Makai is also strong. Beware the strength of Makai, Hakurei Maiden."

The lightning around YuugenMagan disappeared, leaving the demon as only the five floating disks with eyes. The pieces of YuugenMagan then flew towards the gate, the two disks on the left side attaching to the piece of wall to the left of the gate, the pieces on the right side doing the same for their side, with the top eye placing itself on the wall atop of the gate. They eyes closed, the disks changing colour and camouflaging, looking like they were part of the cave.

So that is where they came from and why Reimu didn't see them before they attacked her.

The young trainee looked towards the gate to Makai, the gate to another dimension that Elis had disappeared to. Reimu looked down at her body, seeing that it wasn't damaged, at least not too far. She didn't feel tired either, and she still had enough ofuda left in her arsenal. She should go to Makai quickly, who knows how far Elis has gone in the dimension and as far as Reimu is sure, she's the only one with the power to undo the sleeping spell casted on Genji.

Keeping all of her ofuda in her sleeves, keeping hold of her gohei and shrinking her Yin-Yang Orb to the small size that allowed it to be held in her hand, Reimu went into the portal, her sight becoming engulfed by the purple light that came from the portal to Makai.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Now here comes the Makai part of the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc, with Elis of course being the one that starts it off, though YuugenMagan is the demon that Reimu fights in this chapter. Yeah, I know that Sara is the cannon gatekeeper of Makai, but I have already made some liberties with this story, and I honestly feel like YuugenMagan just fits the whole gatekeeper thing more. They just look more like a gatekeeper creature to me than Sara does.**

 **I decided to make Elis a trickster type of demon, who likes to pretend to be an innocent girl upon meeting someone before showing what she really is like. I also decided to make YuugenMagan an electric type demon that speaks in the first person and in mostly simple sentences. I wanted to make YuugenMagan's dialogue a little unique.**

 **Reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are appreciated.**


	7. The Ruins of Vina

The sun was shining on the Hakurei shrine as it remained quiet in peaceful serene. Genji layed on the same piece of the ground that he fell asleep on from Elis' sleep spell; even as a holy spirit he was still susceptible to the magic spells of trickster demons.

A portal suddenly opened from within the torii gate in front of the shrine and the sleeping turtle. A normal-sized oni appeared from the portal, having a singular, long, red horn coming from her forehead; to ignorant humans, this horn would be seen as a sign that she may be weak for an oni, or lacking in some sort of oni power, but any oni would know that it is actually a sign of her tremendous strength, even among onikind. Konngara had a smile on her face as she crossed from Jigoku to Gensokyo, hoping to see her favourite human, only for her to be surprised as she saw Genji sleeping in front of the shrine with a magic energy around him. Magic energy that felt a lot like one from Makai.

Konngara kneeled down in front of Genji, the shrunken oni placing her hands on the turtle's forehead, feeling that same, odd demonic magic. She could understand it as a sleeping spell, a powerful albeit temporary one. It would wear off and cease to work in a couple of minutes at the least.

Though, Konngara could still undo the spell and wake Genji up anyways.

"Okay," Konngara said, the Astral Knight beginning to focus her magic on Genji, particularly to purge the sleeping spell from the turtle. "Here goes nothing."

* * *

Reimu was running through a vast landscape of purple land and destroyed houses and broken pillars that were as white as a pearl, running after Elis as the blonde-haired demon continued to fly away, chuckling and giggling as she loved the thrill of getting a shrine maiden to chase after her, though it probably would feel more fun if the shrine maiden wasn't a mere trainee. Oh well, sometimes you just have to take what you can get.

"Come back here, you annoying little demon!" Reimu yelled, trying to throw ofuda at Elis, though the distance between her and the demon was too far for the paper charms to even touch the winged annoyance. "Give up now, before I get serious. If you don't agree to submit and wake Gramps up, I will show you that I'm more than a regular trainee!"

Elis turned around to face Reimu, though she continued to fly away as her wings continued to beat. The demon pressed the pad her thumb against the side of her nose, the palm of her hand facing towards the trainee, her fingers wiggling as she stuck out her tongue. "Bet you can't catch me, little shrine trainee~." Elis said in a sing-song voice, the demon blowing a raspberry at the purple-haired maiden. Reimu's eyes widened before quickly looking furious like a dangerous human, the little girl increasing her running speed, even if just slightly.

"Okay, now you just made it _really_ personal." Reimu snarled, the trainee quickly jumping over a collapsed pillar that was laying on its side. "I'm going to show you what an angry shrine maiden can do!"

"Oh no, the little funny weakling is gonna throw a hissy." Elis said in feigned worry, her fake look of fear turning into a sneer as she flew higher into the air, once again blowing a raspberry at the already irate shrine maiden trainee. "Guess I have to teach you a lesson about us Makai demons, Little Maiden."

Elis waved her wand at Reimu, creating little, purple stars that spun in the air before shooting out lasers towards Reimu. The shrine maiden trainee rolled into a building that was half collapsed to avoid the purple lasers being shot at her. Reimu peeked out from within the building, seeing Elis floating higher and higher, the little demon creating more and more spinning stars that shot out lasers. Reimu gritted her teeth angrily, knowing that the demon was doing this purely because she was aware that the trainee couldn't fly. The sky was filled with dozens of stars created by Elis, the blonde-haired demon giggling away as they all shot down lasers towards the ground, sure that her target would get hit in the end.

Reimu made the Yin-Yang Orb grow in size before hitting it at an intact wall, the same wall breaking apart on impact. Reimu ran out of the building, into the target ground for Elis' fireworks of falling lasers. The maiden looked up at the demon, the blonde-haired fiend unaware of her as she wasn't even looking at Reimu, most likely believing the trainee to be hiding somewhere else.

Reimu knew that she would have to get to higher ground if she wants to hurt Elis; she can't throw her ofuda high enough, nor can she send the Yin-Yang Orb towards her from how low she is. And she can't fly either, which plays a massive variable in the possibilities of how she can attack Elis. Reimu looked around the ruins she and Elis were in, trying to see if there was a building, or other towering structure of sorts, that she could get onto and send the Yin-Yang Orb towards Elis from.

Reimu then noticed a broken pillar leaning against a building that was barely broken at all, miraculously. Shrinking her Yin-Yang Orb back down to pocket size for practical use, Reimu quickly climbed up the pillar and got onto the top of the building, a small sigh of relief escaping her as she saw that Elis wasn't looking at her. Reimu placed the Yin-Yang Orb back on the ground and used her link to make it grow, the trainee focussing her aim on the Makai demon that casted a sleeping spell on her Gramps.

With a loud yell, Reimu swung the Yin-Yang Orb at Elis, the trainee putting her hand flat over her eyes as she focussed on the item flying towards Elis.

Elis was laughing away as she continued the duration of her spell, the demon unaware of the orb flying towards her before it was too late. She heard the sound of rushing air coming towards her, raising an eyebrow as she looked towards her side, barely even having the chance to widen her eyes before the yin-yang hit her square in the face. Reimu watched as Elis' eyes were turned into spirals as the Makai demon plummeted back to the ground with the Yin-Yang Orb, her wand falling out of her hand and her spell disappearing.

Reimu ran towards Elis, the trainee using her link to the Yin-Yang Orb to make the holy relic roll towards her. Elis got back on her feet and picked up her magic wand, the Makai demon flying into the air. "That was a dirty trick you just pulled there, and I respect you for that." Elis said, Reimu didn't know if she was being genuine or not. Elis seemingly sat in the air, her legs crossed as she twiddled with her wand, the demon smiling at Reimu. "Maybe you _do_ have it in ya to become another cool, bad girl of Makai. Though I can never be sure with you humans, you always fail to uphold your potential."

"I don't care about being a part of your Makai group, I just care about making you pay and getting you to undo that spell you casted on Gramps." Reimu said, throwing some ofuda towards the off guard Elis, the paper charms managing to hurt the little girl-like demon.

"I can tolerate and enjoy something sneaky and dirty when both are fighting, but I can't stand something like that when one is having a casual conversation with you." Elis said, glaring at Reimu before making a prideful smile. "Well, only when I'm the victim. If it's anyone else, I'm all okay with it."

Reimu swung the Yin-Yang Orb towards Elis once again, the demon barely able to escape the attack, though she was successful in the end. Reimu then threw ofuda at Elis again, the Makai demon using her wand to shoot out little stars to destroy the ofuda as they came close to her. Reimu once again sent the Yin-Yang Orb flying towards Elis, knocking her wand out of her hand. Elis cursed under her breath, the demon needing her wand to work as a conduct for her magic. The Makai demon wanted to regain her distance from Reimu to make it impossible for the little girl to beat her, but she won't really have a chance herself if she can't use her magic. Elis flew high into the air, making Reimu look straight up at the sky, where a fake sun had covered the maiden's eyesight. Seizing her chance, Elis swooped down and picked up her wand, grinning excitedly as she prepared to unleash some of her strongest spells on the shrine maiden trainee.

Elis then received a large whack on the back of her head, her face slamming against the ground. Elis looked up, seeing the short trainee glaring down at her. Being at the mercy of a human, especially a little child, was basically the death of Elis' pride.

Reimu's eyes suddenly darted to her side, the trainee running out of the way as long, black, sharp nails attached to a woman's hand had swiped at her. Elis looked to see a Makai demon who was humanoid and female in appearance, her hair was mid-length and silver with a black ribbon on the top. She was wearing a black and white outfit, had white bat-like wings on her back and had long, charcoal-black nails. Her eyes were silver, a fun-loving and malicious grin on her face. Elis smiled as she grabbed her wand and got back on her feet.

 **Yuki-onna of Pandemonium**

 **Miyuki**

"Well, well, well, looks like a little child has wondered into a demon's playground~." Miyuki said in a sing-song voice, the demon continuing to grin as Elis appeared next to her. "Children are always willing and wanting to play, and since they're in a playground with us, lets play our little game~!"

"Ah yes, a game would be so fun to play with a little know-nothing like the trainee in front of us." Elis agreed, holding her magic wand high.

"So what if there's two of you now? I'll take on a hundred of you if I have to." Reimu said, whacking her Yin-Yang Orb towards Elis and Miyuki, the two winged demons effortlessly flying out of the way of the attack. Elis pointed her wand towards Reimu, making many little white stars, like the one on her wand, appear before her and float in the air before shooting down towards Reimu. Miyuki placed her palms together, shooting out icicle-like projectiles towards Reimu, much like her fellow demon in front of her.

Reimu jumped and rolled about as she dodged the oncoming magical attacks, the trainee throwing her paper charms towards the demons, the magic talismans falling to the ground before they could even touch the two demons. Elis and Miyuki were giggling endlessly to themselves, enjoying their little game. However, their game of Who Can Hit The Trainee First was brought to an abrupt end as a voice telepathically spoke to them both.

Reimu's heart was beating against her chest with immense force as she doubled over her Yin-Yang Orb, exhausted from having to dodge all of those projectiles in short time. Hopefully she'll get used to that in time, if she ever has to dodge an abundant amount of magic bullets ever again.

Reimu looked back up at Elis and Miyuki, the two demons having their index and middle fingers pressed against their temples, looking off into space. Reimu wondered if they were listening to someone, but it was impossible to tell as she heard no sounds coming towards or from them.

"Sorry, Sir Sariel, we forgot about our mission." Elis said, the wand-wielding demon and her friend(?) bowing down to the invisible being known as 'Sir Sariel'. "We got too caught up in our fun, we forgot about what we had to do."

Elis and Miyuki lowered down to the ground, the two Makai females grinning at Reimu again as they floated above the ground. "You will be playing with me for now, just me, though I have to play by the rules." Miyuki said, the silver-haired demon floating towards Reimu. "If you win the game against me, you can then play with Elis, but you can't play with her here."

"See you at The Fallen Temple, Chump~!" Elis said as she flew away, presumably towards this fallen temple that she mentioned.

"It's you and me, Little Maiden. Just you~ and~ me~." Miyuki said in a sing-song voice, raising her hand in the air, her palm open as she conjured a giant ice ball the size of Reimu above her palm. The ice demon suddenly swung her hand to face towards Reimu, the ice ball that the Makai demon created flying towards her. With a hard yell, Reimu swung the Yin-Yang Orb towards the ice ball, the holy item breaking through the conjured ball and hitting the silver-haired demon that created it square in the face. Miyuki grunted in pain as she fell down upon being hit by the holy relic, her back slamming against the ground.

" _Please let that be enough to defeat her._ " Reimu thought hopefully. The maiden mentally recited a word that she is too young to hear or think as Miyuki got back into the air.

"Careless humans shouldn't play in the cold, frostbite is inevitable." Miyuki teased, using her ice powers to freeze the part of the ruins she and Reimu are in. Luckily for Reimu, her gohei, ofuda, Yin-Yang Orb and the maiden herself weren't frozen by the demon's little trick. "Don't become an ice sculpture~!"

Reimu threw ofuda at Miyuki, the ice demon getting hit by some of the paper talismans but still managing to dodge most of them. Miyuki outstretched both of her palms towards Reimu, the demon shooting out spheres of ice towards the young maiden. Reimu threw ofuda towards the ice projectiles, the paper charms thankfully working on them the same way that they work with the other projectiles. Reimu slipped on the ice, falling onto her front and sliding across the icy ground. Reimu tried to get back up, but her hands and legs kept on slipping off the ground and causing her to once again fall on her face.

Miyuki was left laughing at the trainee, her arms wrapped around her stomach as it began to hurt from how hard she was laughing.

"You humans are too funny." Miyuki laughed as Reimu continued trying to get back, only to slip and fall back down. "You're always slipping on ice, you can't even fly of the ground because of your inferior power. I really wonder why Sariel is interested in your so-called potential."

"My potential?" Reimu asked a she had barely managed to get back up on her two feet, though the trainee still needed to grab onto a piece of a broken pillar as her feet continued to slid from the slippery ice.

"Ah yes, your potential." Miyuki said, the ice demon hovering over the ground she froze. "You are a Hakurei, a bloodline of a powerful human family. At least I have heard that they are powerful, I've never met a Hakurei throughout the few hundred years that I have lived. Sariel said that you have exceptional potential, but I ain't seeing it. Though you are a young child, but still... I feel a little disappointed."

"Hey!" Reimu yelled indignantly, the shrine maiden trainee forgetting about her anger a she began to wonder about this Sariel they keep on mentioning. "Who is Sariel?"

"The only being in Makai that can stand a chance against Lady Shiki; the only denizen of Makai that isn't one of her creations." Miyuki answered, sounding rather proud about the existence of this mysterious Sariel entity and this Shiki, who presumably created her. "As Lady Shiki is a demon goddess who can create life, Sariel is a powerful angel of death and... I have said enough for now. If you wish to know more of him, then you can ask him yourself. That is if you can get past me and to him."

Miyuki extended a hand towards Reimu, shooting out more icicle-like projectiles towards the purple-haired maiden. Reimu got out of the way of the attack, this time using the ice to her advantage as she slid out of the way, though she still fell flat on her face. Knowing that she'll have to adapt and try to hit Miyuki whilst sliding across the ice, Reimu swung the Yin-Yang Orb at the silver-haired demon. The ice demon laughed, inhaling a deep amount of air before breathing it out towards the oncoming yin-yang item. The air was like a mist, Reimu couldn't see the Yin-Yang Orb at all as it entered the mist.

Miyuki stopped blowing out the mist, a smirk on her face. The mist began to clear, showing the Yin-Yang Orb in mid-air, completely frozen in a giant shard of ice. Reimu gasped as Miyuki laughed in glee.

"Looks like you're gonna need a knew trick up your sleeve~." Miyuki said, balancing on one foot with her arms stretched out, spinning around. "I'm stronger than the shrine maiden~ I'm stronger than the shrine maiden~ I'm stronger than the shrine maiden~."

Reimu, in contrast to the happy demon in front of her, screamed in utter horror. "THAT'S THE HOLY TREASURE OF THE HAKUREI FAMILY!" Reimu screamed in horror, slipping towards the frozen Yin-Yang Orb, the purple-eyed maiden hitting the ice shard with her gohei. "I GOTTA GET IT OUT OF THERE. IT'S BEEN IN THE FAMILY SINCE THE BEGINNING! IF I DON'T GET IT OUT, ALL MY ANCESTORS ARE GOING TO BE MAD AT ME!"

"Oh quiet now." Miyuki said, casually kicking Reimu in the stomach. The trainee slipped along the ground, grunting as her back hit against a standing, unfrozen wall. Reimu tried once again to hit at Miyuki, the little girl once again slipping along the ice. Miyuki couldn't help but laugh more. "You don't know anything about ice skating, don't you? I almost feel guilty for freezing the playground."

Reimu growled, the young maiden getting back up on her feet and running towards Miyuki and the frozen Yin-Yang Orb. Reimu was gliding along the ice, something which had seemingly surprised the silver-haired demon in front of her. Reimu spun around, holding her gohei out as she spun. The gohei managed to Miyuki in the face, much to Reimu's relief. Miyuki's body slid on the ice that she placed on the ground, the demon getting further and further away from Reimu.

Reimu didn't try to go after Miyuki, instead she tried to whack at the shard of ice that kept the Yin-Yang Orb imprisoned. The ice shard was slowly starting to give as little pieces of it broke off with each whack Reimu gave it with her gohei.

Miyuki flew towards Reimu, the ice demon trying to swipe and claw at the maiden with her long fingernails. Reimu dodged the long, sharp nails by the skin of her teeth, trying all that she can to not slip and fall down, especially as it would make her an easy target for Miyuki. Reimu ducked down as the ice demon jabbed her hand towards her, the silver-eyed demon's nails getting plunged and stuck in the shard of ice that contained the Yin-Yang Orb. An expression of shock and incredulous surprise came on Miyuki's face, the demon trying to pull her long fingernails out of the ice shard.

"Dammit, stupid long fingernails." Miyuki grunted out as her fingernails wouldn't even budge. It was easy for the Makai demon to create ice, but to make it disappear wasn't as easy. Miyuki saw Reimu in her peripherals, the little maiden having her eyes wide, like she was also surprised. Miyuki made a huge inhale of air before breathing out her freezing breath, aiming to hit Reimu with it. Reimu managed to skate out of the way, where the skill came from the shrine maiden trainee has no idea.

Reimu went behind Miyuki, the trainee whacking the ice demon on the head relentlessly.

"Ow, ow, ow~! Will you stop that?!" Miyuki yelled as Reimu continued to hit her with her wooden wand.

"Unfreeze the Yin-Yang Orb or I won't stop hitting you." Reimu said, the shrine maiden in training whacking the silver-haired demon in the back of the head with as much strength as her small body could muster, causing the Makai demon to slam her head against the shard, making a large crack appear on the ice that held the Yin-Yang Orb. An idea quickly came to Reimu's head, the trainee finding out a way to get the most precious treasure of the Hakurei family out of the demon's ice.

Miyuki turned her neck and looked at Reimu, her silver eyes widening as she quickly caught on to what the little girl was thinking. "Nnnnnno no no no no no, don't do that~!" Miyuki said, waving her free hand from side to side frantically. There wasn't any sadism or anything else malicious in the little girl's eyes, but the demon was quickly beginning to realise that she had no hope to stop her. Reimu once again whacked at Miyuki's head with all her might, causing the demon's head to slam against the ice shard, the crack in it widening. Miyuki's head separated from the ice shard, only to be slammed against it again, the crack in the ice shard growing bigger and stretching around the chunk of ice more and more as Reimu continued to use her gohei to hit the ice demon's head against the shard. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow~!"

The shard of ice finally broke, causing both the Yin-Yang Orb and Miyuki's nails to finally be set free. The aforementioned ice demon fell to the ground, her eyes turned into spinning spirals as she was knocked unconscious form the merciless shrine maiden trainee. Reimu ignored the demon as she ran to the Yin-Yang Orb. Luckily, the ground had unfrozen as Miyuki was rendered unconscious.

The Yin-Yang Orb had rolled across the ground before slowing to a stop. Reimu stopped and kneeled in front of the Yin-Yang, touching it and immediately moving her hands away as it felt almost numbingly cold. "Sheesh, the orb's freezing." Reimu said.

The image of SinGyoku appeared above the holy item; if there was a way for a yin-yang to look cold, SinGyoku had definitely looked like it. "H-how do you think w-we feel?" SinGyoku asked, the unison of the two twins' voice sounding cold. "At least y-you only touched it. W-we are in this t-thing, we were left very c-cold and frozen when the o-orb was encased in t-that demon's ice."

"Oh... Oh my gods." Reimu said, horrified with herself. Reimu then hugged the Yin-Yang Orb, despite the fact that it was still cold. Presumably, it was the maiden's attempt to hug SinGyoku, as the twin guardian spirits remained inside the holy Hakurei relic.

"Hey!" Miyuki said angrily from behind Reimu, the trainee turning around to see the ice demon conscious and standing up, gripping her hand into a fist. She looked angry, her silver eyes filled with a fiery rage. "You can't use my head to break free your little ball! I may be an invincible demon, at least in comparison to you infinitesimal humans, but that doesn't change that I can still feel pain!"

Reimu and SinGyoku looked at Miyuki impassively, the yin-yang spirit returning to the Yin-Yang Orb. "Hey, can you point me to the Fallen Temple that Elis mentioned? I need to go to her and get her to wake Gramps up." Reimu said, stunning Miyuki as she no longer looked at her like a threat. "I beat you in battle, now you have to obey my command."

Miyuki was left still, like she accidently froze herself with her magic, before yelling at Reimu angrily, "You didn't beat me in battle! And there's no stinkin' rule that I have to do as you say because bea-Uggh!"

Miyuki was hit square in the face by the Yin-Yang Orb, the demon being knocked into a state of near unconsciousness as the holy and powerful item hit her when off guard. Reimu walked over to Miyuki, the little girl almost towering over the winged demon. "Now, could you _please_ lead me to where the Fallen Temple and Elis are?" Reimu asked.

"The Fall~en Temple is that'a way~." Miyuki responded, her eyes remaining as the spinning swirls that they were as she slowly lifted herself up and pointed to somewhere in the distance. "E~lis and Sariel are there. Thank you~ for coming to the Ruins of Vena~."

" _I think I hit her a little too hard._ " Reimu thought, the shrine maiden trainee shrugging shortly thereafter. " _Eh, she's a demon, she should heal. And I'm meant to exterminate demons and other creatures, so I think it's all okay._ "

Reimu walked towards where Miyuki pointed (before she slumped back onto the ground and was completely unconscious again), the shrine maiden walking through the ruins of houses and pillars until she came across a giant, golden temple. The temple was the biggest thing that Reimu has ever seen that isn't a mountain; not even Konngara's castle was this big.

Standing in front of the temple, presumably the Fallen Temple, was Elis, the little girl-like demon grinning at Reimu. "So, you came here. Good." Elis said, the demon twiddling with her wand. "Did you enjoy the Ruins of Vina? Did Miyuki give you a good tour?"

"I don't know what a tour is, but I don't think that was it." Reimu responded, a big bead of sweat coming down from the side of her head. "What are these ruins anyways."

"Ah yes, the Ruins of Vena~" Elis said, smiling happily. "Long ago, Miyuki, myself and many other demons worked for weeks, if not months, to make a city outside of the Makai Capital. After we were done, we did what we made it for: blowing it up and apart for fun. Oh how that was a lovely day~. But enough about Vena, it's you and me now. And if you want to wake up Fossil Face, you're gonna have to beat me first."

"Bring in on!" Reimu said, pulling out ofuda and making her Yin-Yang Orb grow in size. "And this time, you _won't_ be running away."

" _Hopefully she doesn't find out that the spell is temporary and the old turtle would have woken up if she just waited for 'bout and hour or two_ _._ " Elis thought quickly before pointing her magic wand at Reimu. "Let's play, Hakurei Maiden~."

* * *

Konngara was humming to herself casually as she was slowly undoing the sleeping spell that was placed on Genji. She knew that she would have to wait for a few hours at the most for the spell to become undone, but time is money and she can only leave Jigoku and visit Reimu for only a temporary while before the demons decided to act crazy. Though the former Deva has begun to create a hierarchy of sorts within Jigoku, so her minions can control her other minions when she decides to visit other places.

The oni was sitting down cross-legged, her hand still on the sleeping turtle spirit's rough and scaly head. The Astral Knight suddenly heard a strange clicking sound as she was waking Genji up brick by brick, the horned lady looking to the source of the sound, seeing a very strange-looking bird. It didn't have any fur, instead having a strange silver-coloured body that shined a bit. It also had a really weird head, with no beak or eyes, being a rectangle in shape with an odd, blinking red eye in the top right corner (at least from Konngara's perspective) and an odd thing sticking out of the square face that had a strange glass on it.

The bird noticed that Konngara was aware of it, turning away and flying away with an odd sound coming as it flapped its wings. Konngara noticed that on the side of the bird's head there was a completely red picture of a strawberry, with the words 'STRAWBERRY INC.' written in red around the top of the strawberry symbol.

"Hmm, how odd." Konngara commented as the bird flew away, focussing her attention back to Genji, seemingly forgetting about the odd bird.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Ah, here is the next chapter. The design for the Ruins of Vena was something that I thought some ruins would look like, even in a demon realm like Makai. The reason for its creation written in the story is the reason why I would think there would be ruins in Makai outside of the capital (my head canon area where most of _Mystic Square_ takes place, as well as where _Pandemonium_ (the fortress of Shiki) is located), since Shiki supposedly rules over all of Makai, since she is its god.**

 **I could have made it that Reimu fights Elis in this chapter, but for a reason that I no longer quite understand, I decided to make it that another Makai demon gets in Reimu's way. Who knows, maybe it was to make sure that the Makai part of the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc wouldn't end quickly, especially in comparison to the Jigoku part.**

 **As for all of you who are thinking who Miyuki is, she is kind of an OC. I say kind of because she is based on one of the nameless Makai demons in Reimu's ending of _Mystic Square_. Since I felt like there needed to more to the Makai half of this arc than just Reimu beating up Elis and then fighting Sariel, I felt like I had to include a new character. Then I thought 'Hey, this fandom likes to take nameless mid-bosses and give them names and personalities and whatnot, so why not go even further and take a character who cameos in an ending?', and so Miyuki was born.**

 **It was kind of a nightmare to get a name for her, since I wanted it to be Japanese (or at least sound Japanese) with a bit of an evil meaning. However it was hard to find any name with a clear meaning from my 'research', so I went with Miyuki and decided to base her powers a little over the meaning.**

 **Oh, and did I foreshadow the events of an arc that is after an arc that hasn't happened yet? Oh my~.**

 **Reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are appreciated.**


	8. Blade of Banishment

Paper cards cut through magic stars as Reimu dodged Elis' magical assault, the demon pointing her magic wand towards the trainee, a red laser shooting out of the white star's top tip. Reimu dodged the laser by the skin of her teeth, the red laser shooting and destroying a piece of her ribbon. Reimu smelled a burning smell atop of her head, the purple-haired maiden touching the top of her head to feel the damage done to her ribbon. Reimu glared at Elis, even as the Makai demon created a magic circle around her little girl-like body for who knows what reasons.

"You have now just made this maximum personal!" Reimu yelled.

Elis didn't care for the maiden's yelling, the white circle that she surrounded herself with turning into a circle white bullets that began to home in on Reimu. The trainee threw her ofuda at the pellets, destroying them, before giving her Yin-Yang Orb a mighty whack towards Elis. The Makai demon did something unexpected as she pulled out her wand, becoming covered by little, flying, yellow stars. Elis' form suddenly disappeared, the Yin-Yang Orb flying through the group of stars. The stars suddenly appeared somewhere else as they vanished, the blonde demon that summoned them reappearing as they had vanished.

"Wait, you can teleport?" Reimu said in surprise, having believed that the only beings capable of teleportation were the fairies.

"Yes, but I can only teleport short distances. Besides, it takes up a lot of energy to teleport, so I only do it when I feel it's necessary." Elis responded, the demon waving her wand around and conjuring multiple dark purple bats into existence. "And I wanted you to follow me here, so even if I didn't have such a limitation on my teleporting, I would still have baited you."

Reimu threw ofuda at Elis, the demon sending her bats towards the purple-eyed trainee. Some of the bats were hit by the paper charms, letting out little screeches of pain before disappearing in disappearing in respective puffs of dark smoke. Some of the bats managed to pass the ofuda, appearing in front of Reimu. The little girl let out an 'Eek' as the bats came close, swatting at them with her gohei, the bats letting out a high-pitched screech of pain before disappearing in puffs of smoke, much like the bats that were hit by the ofuda. More and more bats appeared before Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee was starting to notice that more bats were appearing, even more than the total number that Elis created earlier ago, as she continued to swat and destroy them. Reimu managed to have a peek at Elis through the swarm of bats, seeing that the Makai demon was waving her wand around, creating more and more bats for the purpose of her battle.

" _I have to get rid of that wand of hers._ " Reimu thought as she continued to swat at the bats, though the swarm was slowly starting to become overwhelming, which only left her with more of a reason to get that wand out of Elis' hand. " _Without it, she should be powerless. I just need to hit it out of her grip._ "

Reimu called the Yin-Yang Orb to roll towards her, the holy item going unnoticed by Elis and her bats. Quickly, Reimu threw a bunch of ofuda towards the purple bats so she can get the Yin-Yang Orb in time. Elis' purple eyes widened as she noticed the big yin-yang in Reimu's hands, the Makai demon quickly conjuring up her bats at a quicker rate.

"Quick, quick, don't let her touch her ball!" Elis yelled, her growing swarm of bats flying towards Reimu like a thick storm of purple. Reimu threw the Yin-Yang Orb into the air, hitting it with her gohei, sending it rocketing through the swarm and towards Elis. The blonde demon noticed that the Yin-Yang Orb wasn't heading towards her, feeling relieved in the belief that Reimu had miscalculated her aim. However, as the black-white treasure flew past Elis, it knocked her wand out of her hand, the few bats that remained disappearing in smoke as their caster's magic was cut off. Elis looked at her wand as it fell against the ground, the demon looking back at Reimu to see the purple-haired maiden running towards it. "Shit, she figured out my weakness...!"

Elis flew down, like she was plummeting, towards her wand. Elis grabbed hold of the wand as soon as Reimu, the two purple-eyed females looking at each other in surprise. Elis then pulled at the wand, trying to get it out of Reimu's hand, only for the maiden to pull back.

"Hey, give me back my wand!" Elis yelled as she and Reimu began to play a little tug of war with the wand. "I can't cast my spells without it."

"No," Reimu said, the young maiden able to match Elis in pulling strength. Either she had miraculous superhuman strength, or Elis' physical strength is the same as it looks. Or maybe it's an amalgamation of both. "I won't give you your wand back unless you promise to wake Gramps up with the your magic."

"Fine, I'll wake that old pile of dust up, just let go of my wand!" Elis said, a vein appearing on her head as she began to pull with all her might.

"You're lying!" Reimu responded, the shrine maiden also pulling with all her might.

"How'd you kno- I mean why would you think that?"

"Because I could tell."

" _How_ could you tell." Elis outburst at Reimu, the muscles in her arms beginning to ache as she continued to wrestle with the little girl.

"Because you didn't sound like you meant it, so that means that you didn't mean it." Reimu yelled, slowing getting the upper hand as constantly swinging the Yin-Yang Orb around and practising with her gohei had made the muscles in her arms more durable to such efforts. Elis gritted her teeth, knowing that she would never get the little brat to let go of her wand with lies. However, a thought occurred to head. Even though she had constantly been flying, she has never seen Reimu fly. Not even in the slightest. A smirk appeared on Elis' face as she believes that she has found out the Hakurei Maiden's weakness.

Using her wings, Elis flew into the air, keeping her two hands on her magic wand with a tight grip. Because the strength of her flying power is stronger than her physical strength, Elis was able to pull Reimu off the ground, the trainee's feet kicking at the air as she tried to find something to stand on, but to no avail.

"Hey, I can't fly." Reimu complained to Elis, the Makai deeper only making her smirk grow larger.

"I know, that's why I'm flying." Elis responded as she started to fly up and down, trying to make Reimu let go. "Now if you would please let go, Little Miss Can't Fly."

"Hey, that's cheating." Reimu yelled indignantly at Elis.

"Yeah, well you tried to cheat when you tried to take my magic wand with knowledge that I need it to cast spells." Elis retorted, the demon finally managing to make Reimu let go, the little girl falling back on her butt. Elis then flew up into the air, pointing her wand at the purple-haired bundle of surprises. "I hope you like hot food, 'cause you're 'bout to eat some fire~!"

Elis shot fireballs out of the star on her magic wand, Reimu sent the Yin-Yang Orb flying towards the blonde demon, the holy relic destroying the fireballs. Elis teleported out of the way before the Yin-Yang Orb could touch her. Reimu sensed Elis' demonic energy, the trainee being able to become accustomed to the aura due to her exposure towards the blonde demon, turning around as she saw little stars turning back into Elis. Reimu threw her ofuda at Elis, the paper charms hitting the demon in her purple eyes. Reimu had once again made a lunge for the magic wand, knowing that the battle will be won by her if she leaves her opponent unable to fight, one way or another.

Elis pulled her magic wand away before Reimu could grab it, slapping the trainee across the face. Reimu fell to the ground, the maiden seeing Elis rise into the air in her peripherals. Reimu got back up, calling the Yin-Yang Orb over so she can hit Elis with it. Elis repeated her tactic of trying to shoot Reimu with lasers from her wand, the purple-haired maiden having to roll and run away from the red lasers. Elis then raised her wand into the air, spinning it around in the air, conjuring a giant cloud into existence.

Ice began to fall from the cloud like snow, Reimu had to put her arms over her head in an attempt to stop the hail from hitting her. Elis teleported from behind Reimu, the demon smiling as she had something in mind.

"Tickly-coo~." Elis said as she tickled Reimu.

"Hey, what're you- Ha ha ha ha ha." Reimu responded as she began to laugh from Elis' tickling. "Stop, stop please~. I'm ticklish."

Reimu quickly elbowed Elis in the face, the demon finally relenting in her tickling as she grabbed at her hurt nose. Reimu then gave Elis a powerful blow at the side of the head with her gohei, the demon falling onto her side. Elis flew up into the air with her wand in hand as Reimu had made a grab towards the magic tool, the Makai resident waving it around and turning into her bat form again.

The bat began to fire streams of white bullets towards Reimu as it remained in its tiny, little form. The shrine maiden trainee threw ofuda and whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards the little bat, the winged creature letting out a little, high-pitched laugh as the paper charms and large yin-yang had flown past its little body. Reimu felt more annoyed as her attacks continued to miss the tiny, flying target, the creature's aforementioned tiny size making it hard to hit. Reimu continued to whack away at the bullets that the bat Elis sent towards her, the bat transformation spell seemingly transcending past her usual limitation of being unable to cast spells without her wand, as the wand disappeared when the transformation happened and returned when the demon turned back to normal.

Elis then seemingly charged up a spell, surrounding herself with a white circle of magic with a white, upside down star in the circle. Magical stars shot out of the circle, moving in a faster and more rapid way than the white pellets moved. Reimu swung the Yin-Yang Orb at the stars, the holy item managing to destroy most of the stars, even though it still missed Elis as she remained a tiny bat.

"Ha ha ha ha ha, you can never hit me~." Elis laughed in her high-pitched bat voice, continuing to shoot stars out of the magic circle that she used her magic to create. Reimu had once again threw ofuda towards the bat Elis, the demon snickering as the paper charms mostly missed her. However, one paper charm had managed to graze at one of the bat's wings, causing her to screech in pain. "Ow, that stings like a thousand wasps!"

Reimu watched Elis as the demon bat had hissed, the trainee silently calling over the Yin-Yang Orb.

"Looks like the ofuda are much stronger against me in this form. This form is much smaller than my regular form, so it is much faster, but by the same token, it is weaker and can be hurt more easily when hit. Guess that is an oversight that I can only blame myself for." Elis said, the bat then noticing Reimu looking at her with the Yin-Yang Orb near her. "Hey! Don't you dare think about hitting me with the ball!"

Reimu whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards Elis without saying anything, the bat letting out a high-pitched scream of fear as she dodged the holy object by the skin of her teeth.

"Hey, I'm warning you!" Els screeched, the bat flapping her wings madly, summoning more stars to shoot at Reimu, though the maiden countered them with her ofuda as she called over the Yin-Yang Orb once again. "I may not be a vampire, but I can still suck your blood until you look like a pale, shrivelled puppet. Do you want that? My friends and I could end up using your dry corpse as a plaything. Doesn't sound good, huh? Well stop trying to throw that orb at me and- Ooof~!"

Elis was successfully hit by the Yin-Yang Orb, the small bat being even smaller than the orb. "Pichuun~." Reimu said in glee as the Makai demon hit. The Yin-Yang Orb fell to the ground... landing on the side that Elis was on.

A giant puff of purple smoke happened beneath the Yin-Yang Orb, the aforementioned item flying into the air. Reimu used her link with the Yin-Yang Orb to call it over, the item rolling towards her and touching her leg as the smoke cleared, revealing Elis in her true form of a little girl, gripping her wand as she glared at Reimu with bared teeth.

"I warned you to _not_ throw that ball at me, but you still did." Elis growled. "I'm going to make you pay for that, you insolent child!"

Elis shot fireballs towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee shooting the Yin-Yang Orb towards the demon, destroying the fireballs. Elis teleported away from the yin-yang before it could hit her, the Makai demon appearing a few feet away from where she was originally standing. Elis began to breathe heavily in exhaustion, sweat appearing and falling down her brow, bent down slightly with her hands on her knees.

" _I've been using up my magic recklessly throughout today...!_ " Elis thought, looking up at Reimu. "Okay, Hakurei Maiden, if you want me to wake that turtle up, then you're gonna have to beat this; my ultimate spell."

"Considering that I'm winning this battle, I don't really fear whatever 'ultimate spell' you have up your sleeve." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee looking rather smug towards the little girl-like demon. "If you unleash this 'ultimate spell', I'll just hit you with the Yin-Yang Orb once or twice and you should be down. You're looking pretty tired; you shouldn't really last longer in this battle."

"Fine then. I thought you could actually be a cool girl of Makai like Miyuki, me and some other demons, but clearly you are way too much of a brat for that." Elis said, holding out her wand towards Reimu before pointing it up towards the sky. "Night Crumble."

The air suddenly became thicker, harder to breathe through, like most of the oxygen had been removed from the air, though enough had still remained to stay alive and stay conscious. Reimu looked up at the sky as she felt great magic power there, seeing giant star projectiles falling from the sky. The giant stars hit the ground, creating small explosions as they made contact. Reimu was dodging the stars and explosions with leaps and rolls, the trainee trying to focus on the blonde demon that was summoning the stars, but having troubles as the stars and explosions kept on distracting her.

Elis continued to sweat, the demon eventually having her arm fall limps, bent down as she remained in the air, gasping in exertion. Elis' ultimate spell had subsided, even the effect that it had on the oxygen had weakened greatly. Reimu saw this as her chance, whacking the Yin-Yang Orb towards the demon as she was exhausted. Elis was looking at the ground as she was breathing deeply, the demon looking up as she felt holy energy approaching, the demon looking up for the Yin-Yang Orb to hit her square in the face.

Elis fell to the ground, letting go of her magic wand. Reimu quickly ran towards the Makai demon, appearing beside her as she came to. Reimu had managed to grab hold of the magic wand before Elis could, the trainee snapping the wand in two, rendering Elis unable to use it, and thus unable to cast her spells. "No, my wand~! Now I can't fight you." Elis whined. Reimu began to whack Elis with her gohei, the little maiden admittedly feeling some guilty catharsis for finally getting her revenge against the demon for what she has been doing for the past... time. It occurred to Reimu that she didn't know if minutes or hours had passed. "Ah! AH~! I give, I give~! You've already, I can't fight you anymore. I give~!"

"So you admit defeat?" Reimu asked, the purple-haired maiden no longer hitting the demon with her wooden wand of holy energy.

"Yes, yes, I'll do as you say." Elis said, the demon surprisingly not slipping into one of her usual grins. "I just need another magic wand, 'cause I can't cast my spells without an item of sorts. If you would let me..."

"No." Reimu said, slamming her gohei on Elis' head. "I won't fall for that trick, you just wanted to get your grubby hands back on a wand so you can continue fighting. I want you to use a spell to undo that sleeping spell you casted on Gramps and I want you to get onto it right now!"

"But I can't do that without a wand. 'Sides, the spell is only temporary, and anyone who is at least competent in magic could undo it." Elis said, causing Reimu to look at her with wide eyes as she was processing what the Makai demon had said. "Honestly, if you wanted Fossil Face to wake up then you should have just sat there and wait for a few minutes or so and he would be awake like no business."

"So you're saying... THAT I CHASED AFTER YOU FOR ABSOLUTELY NO REASON?!" Reimu yelled angrily, hitting Elis on the head with her gohei with more strength and rapid speed than ever before. "I got electrocuted, frozen and hit with stars, when I could have JUST WAITED BACK AT HOME AND CONTINUE EATING DANGO?!"

"Yes, ye~s!" Elis responded. "Please stop hitting me~."

Reimu stopped hitting Elis, the maiden making a strong exhale through her nostrils, swinging her gohei over her shoulder and turning away from Elis and the Fallen Temple. "Well then, guess I might as well go home. If I'm lucky then no one has touched my dango." Reimu said as she began walking away. "Maybe I might take a nap, myself. This has been an exhausting day."

" _You cannot leave just yet, Hakurei Maiden._ " A male voice said in Reimu's head, sounding calm and refined. " _You still have yet for your true test to be taken._ "

The doors of the Fallen Temple opened up, revealing a bright and blinding light. Suddenly, the air began to pull Reimu in, like a strong vacuum sucking her in. Even with her feet firmly against the ground, Reimu was still being pulled towards the open doors, leaving a small trail of dirt moved against the ground. The vacuum increased in strength, causing Reimu to lose her footing. Reimu began to spin in the air as she was being pulled in by the strong current of air, the shrine maiden trainee grabbing hold of the ground to stop her from being sucked in. Reimu looked upwards, towards Elis, the aforementioned Makai demon seemingly sitting in the air with her legs crossed, giving Reimu a cheery smile and waving at her like they are good friends who are meeting each other in a normal situation.

Reimu suddenly felt the Yin-Yang Orb's power surge, the maiden looking back to see the holy item being sucked in the Fallen Temple. Reimu sighed, knowing now that she has no choice but to enter the fallen temple and get the Hakurei bloodline's greatest treasure back. Reimu let go of the ground, being pulled into the golden temple, her eyesight becoming completely engulfed in light.

And then Reimu lost all physical sensations.

* * *

"Should just be a few more seconds." Konngara said, keeping her hand on Genji's head. The oni stopped pushing her magic energy into Genji, the oni standing up. The bearded turtle's eyes began to flutter open, the spirit blinking and slowly standing up.

"Huh, where...? Why am I...?" Genji muttered. Genji's eyes suddenly widened, the turtle looking around the Hakurei shrine sharply from where he stood, trying to spot where Reimu was. "What happened to Reimu? What did that Makai demon do with her?"

"I myself would like to ask just that." Konngara said. Genji looked at Konngara, the turtle spirit quickly wondering how he didn't notice her earlier. "When I came here, I found you underneath a powerful, yet temporary and breakable sleeping spell. I didn't see Reimu in sight, but I did recognise the magic energy as one of Makai."

Genji was silent, looking down at the shrine grounds before looking back up at Konngara. "I think she wanted Reimu to come with her to Makai." Genji said to the former Deva. "I don't know for what intents and purposes, but I think... that it could have something to do with Sariel. Has... has he alluded to anything of this nature?"

"Dunno." The Astral Knight shrugged in response. "Shortly after Reimu bested me in battle, the hand mirror that I use to contact Sariel has disappeared. I don't know what really happened to it; it could have either been taken by an impudent demon or Sariel himself has made it disappear. My money is more on the latter."

"If Sariel has indeed commanded one of his sister's demons to take Lady Reimu to Makai... We must go and stop him, stop them." Genji said.

"I'm afraid that I can't really help you." Konngara said, turning around towards the torii gate and opening a portal to Jigoku within the gate. "I've already been here longer than I usually do for the demons of Jigoku to become rampant. If I don't return soon, then all hell will break loose in... well, a piece of Hell."

Genji sighed heavily. "Then I'll go and save Reimu by myself then." The turtle said, floating up in the air.

Konngara stopped in front of the portal, looking back at Genji without turning around. "And where do you think the path to Makai is?" The oni asked. Genji stopped as he flew forward for a few inches, the turtle slowly lowering down to the ground after an unknown amount of time. "That's what I thought."

Genji was silent. "I guess I have no choice but to wait for Reimu to return... _if_ she returns." The ancient Hakurei spirit said.

"Don't be so pessimistic, it is unfitting considering the optimistic nature of the Hakurei shrine maidens." Konngara said.

"...I've noticed that your power level has risen since your last visit." Genji commented. "It is almost as high as it was back in the old days when you, Suika, Yuugi and Kasen were the Four Devas of the Mountain."

"Ah yes, so you've noticed." Konngara said, smiling. "After Reimu defeated me, I began to realise that I have been growing sluggish and weaker from my lack of keeping my former training. So because of this I have been training to bring myself back to the level of power of the days of yore."

"Ah, I see." Genji said. Konngara disappeared through the portal, the same portal closing, leaving Genji all on his own. The turtle spirit sighed. "I hope you come back safe, Lady Reimu."

* * *

 **Author's Note: With Elis defeated and Reimu about to fight Sariel in the next chapter, the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc has only one of two chapters left before its end. Was the battle against Elis a little disappointing? I feel like it could be a little too short.**

 **Admittedly, I had a bit of writer's block whilst writing the fight, though considering that Reimu has been chasing Elis for the last few chapters, and even dealt some damage against the trainee in the last chapter, I had decided that Elis has been exhausted. And to ensure that this wasn't a fake out victory for Reimu, I had her snap Elis' wand in half.**

 **Hopefully by the time the _Story of Eastern Wonderland_ arc comes around, Genji can play a bigger role, unlike in this arc where all he really does is sleep and hope for Reimu's safety. Yeah, I know I'm not doing much with him for the time being, but he wasn't in the original game and didn't have any existence in the games until _Story of Eastern Wonderland_ so he is just sitting on the sidelines for the time being. He'll play a more prominent role in the next four arcs... even if it's mostly as Reimu's means of flying (spoiler: I don't intend for Reimu to fly until this story transitions into the Windows era).**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are appreciated.**


	9. Now, Until the Moment You Die

Reimu was without any sensations, with the only exception being the feeling that she was floating in the air. She felt like she had no body, though; that she was reduced to a formless, shapeless being without any body parts or organs or whatnot in the slightest; floating in a void that was devoid of all shape and colour.

Suddenly, in the grey ocean of nothingness, darkness had emerged, filling up the grey completely. Reimu felt her body return, though the sensation was weird. It wasn't like she regrew any part of her body, but more like she could feel it again. Starting with her head, then moving down to her body, then spreading to her limbs. Distant stars and cosmic nebulae appeared in the darkness, like it was the night sky. Reimu had heard stories that if you were to fly into the night sky, you would enter this place called outer space, where no air or oxygen was existent at all. Reimu held her breath, thinking that she would suffocate from the lack of air, though she soon needed to open her mouth to breath again. It was to Reimu's surprise that, as soon as she tried to breath in the air, she found it to be easy to breath.

Reimu breathed normally as she was now certain that this area was breathable, even though it was supposedly, which is where there is meant to be no oxygen. She was floating without anything to do, her purple eyes noticing a giant purple sphere that was seemingly coming closer to her, a weird symbol of what looked like three, white curves on it.

A humanoid-shaped mist started to appear in front of the giant sphere, solidifying into a being. He was a giant man, a handsome man; Reimu even felt the heat of a blush slowly grow on her cheeks at the sight of his marvellous beauty. His skin was slightly pale, his eyes were blue and his long hair that reached down to the back of his knees was a bone-white colour. Strangely, the giant man wore a long, blue dress with long, white sleeves. He was also holding a giant, purple sceptre. However, what Reimu deemed to be his oddest feature (even more so than the fact that he was wearing a dress) was that he had six, giant wings coming from his back, like that of an angel.

"Welcome, Reimu of the Hakurei family." The angel said, his voice sounding so unnaturally calm and perfect. "I am Sariel, the one who has summoned Elis to lure you here, and the angel of death of Makai; the almighty seraphim that is the brother of Shiki."

 **Seraphim Atop the Hierarchy of Death**

 **Sariel**

Reimu's eyes widened, her face turning back to the same determined expression that she had against the Makai demons that she fought because of him. "So you're the true reason why Gramps was put under a sleeping spell, aren't you?" Reimu said, pointing her gohei towards the seraphim in front of her. Reimu felt a ball that pulsed holy energy touch the side of her arm, the trainee not needing to look at her arm to know that it is the Yin-Yang Orb. "Well then, I'll just have to beat you up for that."

"My, you're quick to want to fight. I guess there are many things about the Hakureis that are hereditary." Sariel commented, the giant angel keeping an impassive expression on his flawless face. "Though battling you is the principal reason for why I have lured you here. I know that fighting you is the only way to see if it is true...!"

"If what is true?" Reimu asked, the maiden slowly floating down until she landed on an invisible platform, like the one that existed in the weird dimension that Konngara summoned her into for their battle.

"Your potential." Sariel answered plainly. The seraphim pointed his magic wand towards Reimu, a sphere of purple magical energy growing in the tip. The sphere then shot forward as a laser, Reimu made a cartwheel to the side to evade the laser, though her hair had still gotten singed slightly by the side of her head. Sariel raised his sceptre above his head, becoming surrounded by a light blue magic circle with ancient and unreadable runes written on it. The outer space-like area that the human and angel were in had changed form, the distant stars disappearing as a bright, red sun had appeared behind Sariel, a giant holy cross seemingly between the angel and sun. Gone was the blackness of space, becoming replaced by an orange sky formed from the sun. Wispy hands of shadows appeared underneath the platform that Reimu and the Yin-Yang Orb were on, reaching up and grabbing at the air, like they were trying to drag the maiden down to wherever they lived; just barely outside of their reach. "Reimu Hakurei, you are the last living member of the Hakurei family in not only Gensokyo, but in the entire world. if you dare to fail as a shrine maiden, then the Hakurei Barrier will break, which will result in unimaginable consequences for everyone, even the gods; even those that live in Makai. Of you do no prove your exceptional potential, then you are unfit for the title of Hakurei shrine maiden. Prove your strength to me!"

Sariel swung his wand at the empty air, summoning crows into existence. The black birds began to fly towards Reimu, sending little white bullets the maiden's way. Reimu threw ofuda at the crows, the paper charms managing to hurt the crows but not defeat them. Reimu rapidly threw even more ofuda towards the crows upon realising that they are stronger than the average mook. One crow eventually gave up, bursting into black feathers that passed through the invisible platform and grabbed by the wispy hands as they continued to reach desperately for everything above them. The other crows closed in on Reimu, pecking at her face and hitting her with their bullets at point-blank range. Reimu swatted at the crows and hit them with the Yin-Yang Orb, the black birds suffering the same fate as their fallen comrade.

Reimu slumped her arms as she finally relaxed from the attack, her body and face covered in marks, mostly from being pecked by the crows. Reimu looked up at Sariel, the seemingly divine being looking at the maiden with a look of disappointment in his eyes, his arms crossed over his chest as he continued to hold onto his sceptre. Sariel pointed his sceptre towards Reimu, shooting out a light purple ball from the time. Reimu hastily ran away from the ball, the shrine maiden trainee being sent flying through the air with immense pain in her back as the ball exploded upon making contact with the platform.

Reimu slammed on her face, the Yin-Yang Orb nearly crushing her head as it landed next to her with a loud bang.

Reimu turned other and looked at Sariel, the giant seraphim floating there with his sceptre in hand, seemingly waiting for Reimu to call her move. Reimu threw ofuda towards Sariel, the angel making a deep sigh of disappointment before extending his hand out towards the ofuda, the holy paper talisman burning up and disintegrating before they could even touch the white-haired man. Reimu gawked at Sariel, even against her opponents that were unaffected by the ofuda, _that_ had never happened before.

Looking angry and bursting air out of her nostrils angrily, Reimu swung the Yin-Yang Orb towards Sariel with all her might. The seraphim effortlessly hit the holy item back towards Reimu, the yin-yang hitting her square in the forehead.

"Pichuun~!" Reimu said dizzily as she spun around dizzily, the trainee imagining little, chirping birds flying around her head. "The world is spinning~ My feet no longer want to touch the ground~."

"This battle is one of endless disappointment..." Sariel commented. Reimu stopped spinning and shook her head from side to side, the maiden soon glaring at the giant man. Sariel pointed his sceptre towards Reimu, bullets and lasers falling from the sky like shooting stars. Reimu ran away from the bullets and lasers as best as she could, constantly swinging the Yin-Yang Orb towards Sariel, only for him to swing it back towards her each time, the trainee dodging the Yin-Yang Orb by the skin of her teeth.

Reimu's heart was beating in her throat and ears, the trainee trying to think of any possible way that she could hurt Sariel. Sadly, all that came to her young mind was hitting the seraphim with the Yin-Yang Orb. But the problem in that is that the dress-wearing angel can hit the orb back towards Reimu. Sure, Reimu had already dealt with that before with Konngara, but the Astral Knight had swung it back at a much slower speed than Sariel did. Reimu rolled across the invisible platform, grazing bullets and lasers along the way.

A quick thought emerged to Reimu. Being someone who is needing to clutch at straws at the moment, the trainee didn't put much thought in the idea and went with it. Reimu threw ofuda towards Sariel, the angel once again outstretching his hand towards the paper charms and burning them. As the holy paper was being burnt apart, Reimu quickly whacked the Yin-Yang Orb towards the seraphim. Sariel's eyes widened as the mystic orb was flying towards him, the angel having no time to shift his focus from the ofuda towards the Yin-Yang Orb, getting hit square in the face by the black-white item.

The firing of the lasers and bullets has ceased as Sariel was hit, though the most that happened to the angel was that he leaned his head back slightly. Sariel's head quickly resumed its upright and proper position, the seraphim calmly moving a few out of place strands of hair back into their proper place.

"Hmm, you actually managed to lend a hit on me." Sariel commented in a plain voice, looking at Reimu with bored eyes. "Granted, I barely even felt a tickle, but you had still managed to land a hit. Though, if that is your tactic, then I see no point in continuing this fight."

Sariel raised his sceptre in the air, making jagged magical bullets fall down from the air and towards the ground. The magical bullets fell in an odd pattern, Reimu had to throw ofuda towards them and swing her Yin-Yang Orb around to destroy the magical bullets. Sariel was more vigilant for Reimu's attacks this time around, making sure to swing the Yin-Yang Orb back towards the trainee whenever it came even an iota close towards him. It made the battle much more difficult for Reimu, as he only real means for hurting the six-winged angel was now being used against her whenever it had the chance to fulfil that purpose.

Right now, Sariel was summoning crosses from the sky, making them fall down towards the platform, exploding into blasts of holy energy, waves of magical bullets made of the same holy bullets coming from the explosions. Reimu was running, jumping, rolling, sliding and whatnot as she avoided the attacks coming from the powerful giant. Every part of the maiden's body, from her muscles to even her bones, were beginning to groan and scream in pain from the exhaustion she was undergoing from all the dodging she was doing.

" _Gramps better reward me for going to all these lengths because of him._ " Reimu thought as she ducked under a laser that was shot by Sariel, the shrine maiden trainee once again swinging the Yin-Yang Orb towards the angel. She was well aware that it is a bad idea to throw the powerful item towards him, especially as he can ricochet it back towards her and hurt her with it, but she really has no other options here.

Miraculously, the Yin-Yang Orb managed to hit Sariel again, though the angel looked like he was less affected by it than last time.

"The longer you persist, the greater the pain will only become." Sariel said in a matter of fact voice, extending his arm out towards Reimu, magical blue bullets appearing in front of him and shooting towards Reimu. The purple-haired trainee swung her gohei at the projectiles as they neared her, the maiden running low on ofuda and knowing that she would have to be careful when using them, lest she is all out of them when there comes a moment in this battle where she needs them the most.

Sariel made lasers rain from the sky, or at least what seemed like the sky in this odd pocket dimension, light purple in colour and thin, however abundant in quantity. Reimu made the Yin-Yang Orb shrink down to the size where she can hold in her hands, running away to try to find a space that was safe from Sariel's attacks, though it was all pointless as she had no hope or means to escape when she is in his pocket dimension.

The small yin-yang in Reimu's hands glowed as the tiny image of a red-haired priestess appeared and floated next to Reimu's face. "Lady Reimu, his strength far surpasses your own." Sin said in a worried voice, the image of the spirit able to perfectly keep herself next to the trainee's face, despite all the turning and rolling she was doing. "I wish there was a way for me and my brother to help, but we're finding no results. You'll have to find a means to escape."

"There is no possible way to escape a seraphim, especially when in his domain." Sariel said in a calm yet thunderous voice, the angelic being manging to hear the red-haired spirit as she whispered to her master. "The only way for you to leave this place is to be let out by me, unless you spontaneously develop powerful magical or spatial-manipulating powers. Even then, your chances of leaving my personal realm without my help is impossible."

"Looks like my only hope is to defeat him." Reimu said, swinging the Yin-Yang Orb towards the white-haired angel. Sariel kept the same impassive expression that he has had throughout most of the encounter between him and Reimu, pointing his staff towards the holy object. The Yin-Yang Orb stopped, completely still and frozen in the air. The black-white object began to spin around at tremendous speeds, the colours of the item blurring. The orb shot out towards Reimu, changing its direction in zig-zags and loopty loops, shooting towards Reimu with an unreadable pattern alongside the tremendous speed. Reimu jumped out of the way as the Yin-Yang Orb slammed in front of her, the trainee's heart beating all around her body as she barely managed to jump out of the attack's way.

It really didn't help that she was so tired.

The image of Gyoku appeared from the black-white item, standing up with his hands in their usual prayer position. "Lady Reimu, my sister and I are investigating in all possible ways that you can even stand a chance against Sariel, you just need to hang in there." The priest spirit said, vanishing back into the Yin-Yang Orb.

"Do not believe that the Hakurei Guardians will successfully help you in beating me." Sariel said, summoning multiple crows that flew towards Reimu, being the exact same as the first ones used against the trainee, in principle. Reimu used the Yin-Yang Orb and her gohei to fend off against the crows, the black birds this time around being slightly stronger than the last ones. "It is _your_ power that I brought you here for, to see _your_ potential, to see if you can fight against me. The twins won't be able to help you against me with their own power. The only way for SinGyoku to help you is to reveal your true potential to you."

Reimu was beginning to sweat and bleed from the crows, the latter because the birds were clawing at her with their talons. After enough whacking from the holy wand, the conjured crows, magical and existing without souls, broke apart into black feathers, falling through the platform and being grabbed by the shadow hands. SinGyoku appeared from the Yin-Yang Orb, the brown-transparent yin-yang having an unreadable expression on its face. Then again, it's a yin-yang with no real face.

"Lady Reimu... we think we have found out a way that you can beat Sariel, but we're not so sure of it. Or if it could even work." SinGyoku said, once again its voice was like Sin and Gyoku speaking at the same time. Reimu looked down at the yin-yang image floating atop the yin-yang object. Even Sariel had stopped as he raised an eyebrow towards the maiden and her spirits. "It's called Fantasy Seal, you might recall it from your memories. Apparently, you used it against Konngara, and it allowed you to defeat her. You have seemed to have forgotten about it. You originally used it by reaching deep inside yourself, so you'll have to do it the same way again."

SinGyoku then vanished back into the Yin-Yang Orb. "Well... that was no help." Reimu commented. The purple-eyed maiden looked back at Sariel, a mysterious look in his eyes as he looked at her with otherwise unreadable eyes, like he was expecting something. Was it the Fantasy Seal? Reimu sighed, guessing that she really does have no other options. Reimu cleared her mind and tried to forget about the pain as she searched deep in herself, remembering the moment her mother used it against the onikuma, as well as the moment she used it against Konngara. Reimu felt the familiar power rise within her, the trainee unleashing it. "Fantasy Seal!"

Six black and white yin-yang surrounded Reimu, two glowing green, two glowing blue, and two glowing red. The six yin-yang spun around Reimu at fast speeds, becoming indistinguishable from each other, especially as their colours blended into one. The six yin-yang then flew towards Sariel, the angel just standing there and watching, the six yin-yang hitting him head-on, exploding in front of his face, creating a cloud of smoke that completely engulfed his being.

Reimu fell down to her hands and knees, her sweat going cold as she was feeling exhausted beyond belief, fearing that she might end up falling unconscious from all the energy she was using.

Reimu looked up at the cloud of smoke, seeing it clear to reveal Sariel, the angel floating there with an impassive expression and minor bruises and signs of damage. "How disappointing...!" Sariel commented, the emotion clear in his voice. "I guess it is my fault for picking a mere little girl to battle. The other Hakurei shrine maiden's I fought were fully grown, having learned to master their powers and actually hit me with powerful attacks, even without having to rely on the Yin-Yang Orb and Fantasy Seal."

Reimu pushed away that feeling of being on the verge of unconsciousness, weakly standing back on her two feet, feeling like she was going to fall down as her feet could barely support her weight with the lack of energy in her. Reimu pulled out an ofuda from her sleeves and pressed it against her gohei as she focussed on her internal holy energy. "Fantasy Seal!" Reimu said again, once again summoning six yin-yang that homed in on Sariel and hit the angel.

Reimu fell onto her back, her eyes blinking closed, her back relaxing against the platform, the wispy hands reaching out for her didn't scare her in the slightest as she was sure that they would never be able to touch her in the slightest. Reimu willed herself to stay awake, pushing herself off the platform. The trainee looked up at Sariel, the six-winged angel only slightly more damaged than before, mostly in the fact that his hair was a little out of place again, as well as there was minor damage on his clothes.

"That Fantasy Seal hasn't done much more damage than the last. If anything, that one has done even less damage." Sariel said in monotone, the angel cupping his face in his hand as he turned it from side to side. "I raised my expectations too high for a novice of a shrine maiden; it makes perfect logical sense that you would be a novice user of the Fantasy Seal."

"How are you damaged so slightly from my Fantasy Seal?" Reimu asked, the purple-haired maiden falling down to her hands and knees as another wave of exhaustion washed over her. Reimu looked up at Sariel with teary eyes, the angel apathetic to the child's tears. "That attack was strong enough to defeat Konngara in one hit, how can it be so weak against you?"

"That oni's power has dwindled over the years of her wasting her time sitting on her throne and commanding over those fairies in devil suits." Sariel said, his eyes squinting slightly and showing a sense of anger that Reimu didn't see in him before; the trainee was conflicted on whenever she should be happy that she got him to show some emotion or be scared as she may have actually gotten on the powerful angel's bad side. "I knew I was a fool to use her, a wicked and lazy creature, to test your strength. Unlike her, my power doesn't weaken in atrophy. I will never again waste my allegiance with a lazy being who lets themself grow weak."

Sariel pointed his sceptre towards Reimu, shooting out a beam of magical energy, sending the poor trainee flying across the pocket dimension where he ruled absolute. Groaning in pain, Reimu was barely able to turn her body around to look at the six-winged angel and remain conscious.

"This is the end, Reimu Hakurei." Sariel said, regaining his calm composure. The blue-eyed angel pointed his staff towards Reimu, the same magical energy building up in what would no doubt be an even stronger attack. "I am an Angel of Death, it is practically my job and the meaning of my existence. I usually take away life in a subtle away; letting my victims pass away into the afterlife peacefully and without pain. However, this death may an exception. There will be no pain, at least not for long, but this will be very messy."

Sariel shot the beam towards Reimu, time slowing down for the trainee. She could only watch as the beam came close to her at a speed so slow that it was almost unnoticeable. She felt like some God of Time, or some other time-manipulating entity was giving her a chance; to escape from the attack and beat Sariel. Nevertheless, Reimu found herself unable to move. Her body was completely disobeying her commands, preferring to just sleep there and accept death from the angel that brought it. It was rubbing salt into the wound, seeing your death come slowly closer with a seeming chance to escape it, only for you to be left unable to do anything other than just sit and wait as it slowly creeps towards you like a slug.

" _I don't want to die! I don't want to lose!_ " Reimu thought as the beam came closer, tears running down her eyes at normal speed in this otherwise slowed down world. She wanted to overcome Sariel, defeat him, come home to Gramps and her kotatsu, continue learning everything about being a shrine maiden, become a full shrine maiden and protect Gensokyo, and even have a child of her own to continue the Hakurei bloodline after she herself has perished.

Reimu didn't notice it, but immense holy power had pulsed within her as the desire grew.

" _I can't fail as a shrine maiden when I haven't even become one yet._ " Reimu thought sadly, the power within pulsing even more as the beam was becoming closer and closer towards her, the colour of the magic attack beginning to glow on her skin. " _Don't let this be the end. Please don't let this be the end!_ "

The holy energy began to pulse again and again, growing stronger with each round, becoming stronger as the beam came closer. The tremendous holy energy then burst out from Reimu, destroying the laser beam and causing Sariel to cover his eyes with his arm. The angel was surprised, nonplussed by the power that suddenly came from the little girl. Just where could it have came from?

Reimu was completely engulfed in a dome of bright light, a pure manifestation of holy power. A female figure emerged from the dome of light, her soul and aura being much like that of Reimu's, though her appearance told a different tale.

It was a women in her teens, wearing a large ribbon atop her head with white tubes on her sidelocks, along with a white shirt, a sleeveless white top, with a white ribbon tied around it and white detached sleeves. She was holding a gohei in her hand with seven yin-yang floating around her, her eyes closed. The shrine maiden trainee, if she was still her, had opened her eyes, revealing the once purple eyes being as red as scarlet.

Sariel felt a foreign feeling rise within him in a shudder; a feeling he hasn't felt in a time that was so long ago that even he has long forgotten about that time. It was fear, a hideous feeling.

Sariel had forgotten the feeling, having had nothing to fear since the Era of Forgotten Time has met its end. It left him frozen, he couldn't really do or think anything, he could only watch in fear as all of the seven yin-yang around the maiden glowed with a bright light. There was no colour, they were just pure lights.

Sariel felt cold to his non-existent bones, gripping his sceptre as cold sweat fell down from his head to his toes, he didn't even acknowledge that this was the first time sweat had left his body since that horrific, forgotten day in that forgotten era.

"Impossible... The Fantasy Heaven is the strongest attack of the Hakurei family." Sariel muttered as he looked down at the teen in front of him. Even though he was a giant and she was like an ant in comparison to him in size, he was the one with fear-filled eyes as she looked at him with stoic eyes. "Only the strongest and most skilled of the Hakurei family can use that power, even then they need to endure training that would be absolute Hell for most other humans. She's a little girl, a novice among a trainee, how could she even achieve such a power?"

The seven yin-yang spun around Reimu, increasing in speed before Sariel's eyes. The seraphim began to panic, pointing his sceptre towards the teen, sending an overwhelming barrage of lasers and bullet projectiles that varied from the simple white ball, to the holy crosses, to even fireballs and beyond.

Reimu merely looked at the oncoming barrage of magical lasers and bullets, not having an iota of fear in her eyes for even a second. Reimu sighed, the yin-yang looking like a white ring around her as they spun at their fastest speeds. "Fantasy Heaven." Reimu said calmly, her voice having a sort of echo to it, a legion of the same voice.

Multicoloured lasers and ofuda shot out of the spinning yin-yang at speeds that the naked human eye could never comprehend, the burst of holy power let out from the attack pushing back against and destroying Sariel's attacks. Lasers and bullets alike, they broke apart and turned to nothingness. Sariel grunted, outstretching his palm in front of him, surrounding himself with a translucent, pink ball that acted as a barrier to protect him from the Fantasy Heaven. The barrier was able to endure a few lasers and ofuda, however cracks began to appear on the barrier. The cracks had spread around, becoming deep and longer and bigger. The cracks surrounded the barrier, making it look like a piggybank that was smashed beyond belief and miraculously glued back together.

And then the cracked barrier finally broke.

Sariel was hit by lasers and ofuda of unimaginable strength and power, the angel making a scream of sorts as he was being hit. It was hard to make out what the scream was of, but it was clear that it wasn't of pain. Sariel's clothes were left absolutely torn, barely covering the private areas of his body, his skin and flesh covered in bruises and cuts.

The Fantasy Heaven eventually stopped, the seven yin-yang vanishing. Reimu was once again engulfed by a holy light, fading away and turning the trainee back into her real form. She was standing upright with her eyes closed, like she was sleeping. Reimu slowly opened her eyes, confused on what was happening. Her last memory was that of lying on the ground as Sariel sent a beam her way, with time frozen to a near still. Now she was standing up without Sariel anywhere in sight.

The giant angel suddenly fell to the ground, creating a tremendous shockwave that sent Reimu into the air temporarily before she landed on her side. Reimu looked at Sariel, luckily remaining clothed enough so nothing was really revealed, the seraphim unconscious.

Reimu was confused, what happened during the brief moment that she was no longer conscious?

The trainee suddenly heard a cracking sound from above, the purple-haired maiden looking up to see the giant sun and cross that Sariel had summoned, cracks appearing on the glowing sphere. The cracks began to spread throughout the sun, eventually covering the sphere entirely. The sun broke apart, falling in the hole they created in the sun. The cracks began to spread, the dimension that Reimu and Sariel were in breaking into pieces and falling into a white space outside of the dimension.

Reimu watched in fear as the dimension was beginning to break apart, the trainee soon falling into the white void.

Reimu's exhaustion was starting to get the better of her, and the last thing she saw before falling asleep was a giant hand reaching out towards her.

* * *

 **Author's Note: And thus more or less ends the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc, though this is not necessarily the last chapter to be set in that arc. I decided to have the Fantasy Seal make its reappearance and even introduce the Fantasy Heaven (albeit, more in a style that it had in the fighting games than in _Imperishable Night_ ), and whilst Fantasy Seal will appear more often and will definitely have more of an appearance in later chapters (since the Fantasy Seal is basically Reimu's signature attack, kind of like the Master Spark with Marisa), I doubt that Fantasy Heaven will have that much more to do with the story of _Maiden's Capriccio_ (too OP).**

 **I decided to make Reimu transform into her Windows era self (albeit with an appearance more like what she got in CTC) when she activated Fantasy Heaven because it seemed cool in my head. No other real reason, just that it seemed cool.**

 **The crows used by Sariel, however, do have a bit of a reason. I know that Sariel used bats in the original game, but I felt that since crows are often used as a symbol of death and whatnot, they would just fit Sariel and his Angel of Death motif much more than bats.**

 **All reviews, even constructive criticism, are appreciated.**


	10. Civilization of Magic

Reimu was floating in an odd void of darkness and brightness; a realm that contradicted its own existence. The trainee knew that the void was dark, but it felt like there was something shining from the other side of the void, from behind the darkness. It made Reimu's eyes hurt a little for some reason, and that only made the tired little girl feel angry.

"...mu? Wake... you'r… ping..." A voice said from Reimu from somewhere that she couldn't trace. That voice seemed familiar to Reimu, but she couldn't quite remember the who or what it had belonged to in the past. Even though she couldn't quite put her finger on the voice and its owner, it had made her feel feelings of happiness. Reimu then suddenly felt something rough and hard nudge the side of her arm lightly. "You need t... ke up! Re... I know tha… sleep."

"Be pati…" Another voice had said, even more hard to recognise than the first voice. Reimu had a feeling she didn't hear the entire words of the voice, becoming muffled and unmuffled, like the voice from before. "She has... ing techn… I am... that she... at."

The words felt nonsensical as Reimu couldn't fully understand them, only increasing the trainee's anger even further. Before Reimu had known it, her eyes were slowly opening to a blurry sky with two blurry beings in front of her, one having a green and brown colour as the other had a blue colour of sorts. Reimu's eyes stung, the maiden immediately closing her eyes again as it felt like they were being burned by the light. The purple-haired girl groaned from the pain being brought upon her eyes, however she could feel the eyes of the unknown blurs looking down at her.

Groaning again, this time in annoyance, Reimu once again forced her eyes open. Reimu's eyes had once again stung in pain, like a hornet had stabbed its stinger into the organs. Reimu looked at the blurs in front of her as they began to clear, gaining a more definitive shape respectively. Reimu realised that she was looking up at the cloudy sky with the bright sun overhead. Reimu noticed that Genji and Sariel were looking down at her, the spirit and the angel at her left and right respectively.

Genji had at first had a concerned look that changed to an elated look, however Sariel had an expression that remained impassive through and through.

"Oh Reimu, you're awake and alive!" Genji teared, the large turtle walking towards her and seemingly hugging her. It was honestly hard to tell what his action was as he didn't have any arms. Genji suddenly pulled away from Reimu and glared at the trainee. "Do you know how terrified I was?! Seeing an Angel of _Death_ appear in front of the shrine with you in his arms? I was scared that you had already lost your life at such a young age, before you could even become a full shrine maiden? I would have probably suffered from a panic attack if the same Angel of Death didn't assure me that you are still alive!"

Genji was seemingly growing angrier and angrier with each second, Reimu was actually beginning to fear that he would actually hurt her, but the turtle suddenly looked relieved and nuzzled again Reimu's neck.

"I'm just so happy that you're now okay." The old being said with relief beyond words in his voice, tears coming from his rough eyes. Genji pulled his head back, looking at Reimu in the eyes. "Reimu, until your training ends and you're no longer a trainee, I don't want you to fight any evil spirits or youkai or gods, or go to any other dimensions, or do any of that other shrine maiden work without my help. Or at least be by my side."

"Uh... Okay, Gramps." Reimu said, having been mostly weirded out by the turtle's odd shifts in emotion. The trainee looked over towards Sariel, the angel normal-sized and still looking at her with emotionless eyes. It was honestly growing kind of creepy how dead his eyes looked without emotion. There was silence as Reimu and Sariel were looking at each other, even the blowing of the wind was eerily quiet.

"You have proven yourself to be more than a disappointment, I know now that I misjudged you." Sariel said calmly, not displaying any emotion in his voice or expression. "However, I do not regret my actions. Your true potential still has yet to show itself."

The seraphim then dematerialized, disappearing from in front of the trainee and guardian spirit. "That was... weird." Reimu commented, blinking at Sariel's odd reaction.

"I hate beings like him." Genji said as he glared at the empty air that Sariel had once existed at. "Unable to get off their high horse, only being patronizing at best. I would much prefer that I never meet with something like him ever again."

Reimu suddenly collapsed beside Genji, the ancient turtle looking at the trainee worriedly, only to become relieved as he saw that she had fallen asleep. It seemed that everything that she had done had made her sleepy and left her tuckered out. Genji grabbed hold of Reimu's hakama with his mouth and dragged the sleeping maiden into the shrine, letting her sleep in peace.

* * *

The realm of Makai was a demonic dimension, a purple land with fires coming out from the ground. Many humans who were able to so much as have a glimpse at this dimension would misinterpret it as a piece of Hell, a dimension of infernal flames. This misplaced concept wasn't too off, as it was home to many demons and created by an ancient and powerful demon, but a demonic dimension and Hell are two different things with subtle differences.

Within the centre of this dimension is a capital; a pile of buildings and even a few markets for the demons that live in Makai peacefully, or mischievously. And in the centre of this capital, the centre of Makai itself, is a giant castle of beauty and intricate, delicate design named Pandemonium. This castle is the home to Shinki, the ancient and powerful demon that has created Makai and the demons that live within the dimension. She lives an existence that is much like that of a deity, and was even worshiped as such by cults that have long disappeared.

She was currently sitting down in a big, colourful room, filled with stuffed animals and tons of toys, with a big bed along the corner of the room. The deity-like demon was a tall woman with light blue eyes and long white hair that was slightly tied up in a ponytail, her humanoid body covered in red robes. She was sitting on a small plastic chair, her legs bent as the legs of the chair she was sitting on were incredibly short. She sat in front of a round, plastic table that also had incredibly small legs, having a light green colour and a natural floral pattern painted on. Well, it seemed to look like it was painted, but it was created that way; by raw and powerful magic power.

Around the green table were more plastic chairs, five in total. Four of the chairs had plush animals on them with button eyes, having fur that the real animals don't have in the slightest. One was a little elephant with blue fur and a pink bowtie, one was a bear with pink fur and a little sunhat and a flowerhead printed on one of its paws, another was a fox with purple fur and an eyepatch and boots, and the last was a giraffe with green fur. None of the designs were correct, but the person they were made for loved them nevertheless, and so Shinki loved them as well.

The person in question was on the opposite side was a little girl with blonde hair and golden eyes, wearing a light pink dress with a blue apron and a matching ribbon around her head. The little girl was smiling, tea and cakes were placed all over the little plastic table.

The little girl turned her head towards the blue elephant. "Mr Woozle, could you please pass over the cookies?" The little girl asked kindly in a high-pitched voice. The elephant teddy nodded silently, picking up the small tray that had the cookies (miraculously, since he didn't have hands) and passing them over to the little girl. The blonde girl happily took the cookies, about to eat them before they were suddenly pulled out of her hands by an invisible force. The little girl frowned, turning her golden eyes from the cookies to Shinki, the demon goddess smiling as she had a finger pointing out, being what she used to get the cookies out of the little girl's hands with telekinesis.

"Now, now, Alice." Shinki said to the little girl, Alice, a smile on her face as she tried to stop herself from laughing at the glare on the little girl's face. "Do remember your manners, dear."

"Oh yeah. Ahem, thank you, Mr Woozle." Alice said. The cookies lowered back into Alice's grip, the little girl happily eating the chocolate chipped biscuits. Shinki giggled at Alice; she may have created a vast myriad of demons and has seen them all as her creations, but Alice will always be the one she sees as her daughter.

Yes, because she created all of the other residents of Makai with her raw magical power, she has seen them all as her creations, rather than her children. But Alice is different, because Shinki decided to visit a world where humans lived and got drunk and had some fun with a human male. She doesn't remember the male or know who he is, but he never really mattered to her anyways; a mere one-night stand.

Shinki then noticed that Alice and the living teddies were looking at her. Actually, it was more like they were looking past her. The demon goddess looked behind her, to two large glass doors that were wide open, leading to a balcony with golden rails. There was a ray of light that shined down on the balcony, revealing a man with long white hair in a blue dress, six angelic wings sprouting from his back. The man was floating in the air, softly landing on the balcony and walking into the room, his face expressionless.

Alice got off from her chair and ran towards Sariel, looking incredibly giddy. "Uncle Sariel~!" Alice squealed in delight, the little girl jumping towards the seraphim and hugging him around the waist, the angel grabbing hold of her body. "You came to visit."

"It is nice to see you again as well, Alice." Sariel laughed softly, patting Alice on the top of her head, the angel actually smiling down at her. Sariel looked up at Shinki, the Demon Goddess looking happy at her brother. Sariel cleared his throat, regaining his calm and indifferent composure. "Sister, I wish to speak with you in private. Do you think that you could spare me the time."

Shinki gave Sariel an annoyed frown, the godlike demon preferring to spend her time with her daughter, however she quickly calmed back to a small smile. "Of course, Brother." Shinki said. The white-haired demon reached into a pocket in her robes, pulling out a small, purple orb. Shinki tapped on the small orb, the tiny item glowing with magic. "Yumeko, could you please come to Alice's room?"

"As you wish, Lady Shinki." A female voice said from the other side of the orb. A certain area of space within Alice's room had warped, a blonde-haired maid in a red and white outfit suddenly appearing within the room, bowing down on one knee with an arm across her body. The maid stood up on her two feet, opening her eyes to reveal them to be as yellow as her hair, a serious look on her face. "What is it that you wish for me to do, Lady Shinki?"

The maid then noticed Sariel, surprise overcoming her face for a few seconds before she bowed down towards him. "Sorry, Lord Sariel, I didn't know that you were present."

Shinki cleared her throat with slight impatience, the space-manipulating maid in front of her directing her attention back towards her. "Brother and I need to talk about something 'private'." Shinki said, the happy Demon Goddess stretching her hand towards Alice. "Yumeko, could you please continue my tea party with Alice until my conversation with my brother is over."

Yumeko smiled. "I have no problem with spending time with Lady Alice, I value her as highly as I value you, Lady Shinki." The blonde maid said as she gave Alice a smile that was reserved only for the human-demon hybrid, approaching her and sitting down on one of the short, plastic chairs. Shinki chuckled under her breath before she and Sariel left the room, the two odd siblings walking down a corridor. It was mostly just them, though sometimes the odd fairy-like demon, or demon that looked like a giant eyeball with wings, or some other unnatural looking creature would fly by.

"So, Sariel, what is it that you wish to speak?" Shinki asked, keeping her happy face as she and her brother walked down the corridor.

"It is about the new Hakurei shrine maiden, the trainee." Sariel responded calmly, looking at his sister with his usual impassiveness.

"Ah yes, the new Hakurei." Shinki said as though the news was like the weather. "I know from your informants that the past Hakurei, whoever she was, had died. It was from those same informants that I know that there is a new trainee. Tell, did you really ask me to come with you in private to just talk about another powerful human that protects the Paradise of Legends?"

"Under usual circumstances, that wouldn't be the case. However, this shrine maiden is different." Sariel responded, the Angel of Death catching his sister's attention. "You see, this new shrine maiden trainee is younger than the rest. In fact she is a little girl."

"A little girl?" Shinki asked in surprise, the Demon Goddess proceeding to glare at her brother. "You didn't send anyone to fight her like you have done with the Hakureis of the past, right?!"

"Sister, please listen to me fully before you began reaching conclusions." Sariel responded calmly, not afraid of the immensely powerful demon that is his sister. Shinki made a loud exhale of air through her nostrils before calming down. She definitely didn't summon her wings, so she wasn't all that mad to begin with. "You see, when my informants first told of this new Hakurei, they also told me of her potential, one that was powerful among humans, even the exceptionally powerful Hakureis. I originally made Konngara test the young maiden's skills, but she had lost and decided to break our contract."

Sariel reached into a pocket that was seemingly in his skirt, pulling out a hand mirror with an amethyst jewel just beneath the reflective glass.

"Of course, from how much she has let herself grow weak from her lack of keeping her training, as well as the fact that the Hakurei trainee is a child, I decided to fight against her myself to truly test her strength." Sariel continued, the angel pausing with an unreadable emotion on his face.

"And?" Shinki asked, inquisitively interested in the angel's story.

"At first she had proven to not put up much of a fight against me. She was tactical and adaptive, managing to land some hits on me, though her overall power was weak. I had believed that she would have failed as a full shrine maiden, but then..." Sariel said, pausing again as his face changed to one that Shiki thought she would never see on his face ever again, save for the end of Creation itself; fear. "She managed to use the Fantasy Heaven, the attack that is said to end all others and be an aspect of the Hakurei God itself. I was powerless against it, but what was most of all was that she had ascended into a new form. It was like she had became possessed by some divine power, or that she had shown the full power of her potential. This new Hakurei trainee... she may be the strongest shrine maiden to exist, if not the strongest _human_ to ever exist."

"Hmm, that does sound troubling then, especially with some of the vacation and tourism plans that I have in mind." Shinki mumbled. Sariel raised an eyebrow towards his sister, having never heard of these plans from her before. Shinki noticed her brother's attention, the Demon Goddess waving her hand dismissively. "That is nothing for you to worry about. I'll just keep an eye on this new trainee, if she shows that power that has scared you, then I'll just have to pick somewhere else than Gensokyo. If she doesn't show that power or potential anymore, then I'll continue my plans as normal."

Shinki then snapped her fingers, space warping around her as she teleported, leaving Sariel on his own in the corridor. The seraphim sighed, waving around his sceptre and turning into a small sphere of white light, floating out of the window and going back to Sariel's personal domain in Makai; the only area of the dimension not created by Shiki.

* * *

Deep in Jigoku, at a far, far away area from the civilizations and homesteads and houses to the demons of this dimension, there layed a large, metal stigma. It was golden, big enough for a human adult to sit and even walk on, at least an entire metre tall. Within this golden seal is tremendous magic power that once belonged to a malevolent ghost who was once considered to compared to a deity in the days of yore, gained through many years of training and the sacrificing of souls to Magic Gods, Evil Gods and gods that were both, sealed away by a powerful shrine maiden and multiple powerful sorcerers, sealed so far away in hope that evil woman who had originally gained these magic powers would never get them back.

A long trail of a blue mist flew towards the golden stigma, the head stopping in surprise, the rest of the trail continuing to move towards the head of the mist until it turned into one huge ball of a green mist. The mist transformed into Mima, the ghost having a grin of evil glee on her face, a sense of relief as she finally found what she has spent many years, lifetimes, searching to regain.

"Ah, there you are, my precious baby." Mima cooed as she flew towards the golden stigma that held her stolen powers. The spirit could feel her magic react to her presence, reaching out towards her to be reunited with her. Mima smirked, knowing that the magic can only be released by her touch, and even then only she can gain them. It was well worth it to sacrifice those souls to a powerful and heartless Magic God to ensure that no one else can gain her magic powers or permanently remove them from her. Even when the Hakurei maiden and the wizards got the advantage over her, she still had a trump card purely in her benefit. The ghost laughed as she flew towards the stigma. "Don't worry, My Precious, Mummy's here."

Mima placed her fingers down on the stigma, immediately a tornado of green magical energy emerged in a powerful surge. Tremendous air and power came from tornado, blowing away everything that was even slightly nearby; even the ground was being broken off and thrown away from the powerful wind and energy. The only thing unaffected was Mima herself; being dead and a ghost had many advantages to it.

The tornado of green magical energy flew towards Mima, entering her spectral form. "Yes, YES! Return to me, my long lost magic." Mima said as she could feel the power return, her body becoming covered in light as she began to change form. Her eyes changed from blue to green, her cap turned blue and her dress had a blue, light blue and green colour with white symbols on it. A long, purple cape appeared on the ghost as large blue and purple wings appeared from her back. Mima grinned as she looked at her new and improved form, the spirit throwing away her knife as she no longer needed it. Mima outstretched her palm at the open air, a light green magic circle appearing in front of her, a staff with a white crescent moon on top of it appearing. "Ah yes, it feels so good to have this power once again; to once again be Mima, The Witch That even Gods Fear, The Malevolent, The Scourge of all Humanity."

Mima looked down at her staff, seeing her reflection slightly in the crescent moon of her staff. A frown appeared on the ghost's face as she knew that she would have to reassemble new minions, as well that she has most likely gotten sluggish, so she'll probably have to train for a few days or weeks to ensure that she has regained her mastery of her lost magic.

A smirk appeared on Mima's face. "Just you wait, Reimu Hakurei..." Mima said, pointing out her staff towards the empty air, the crescent moon glowing with energy as a portal opened in front of her. Sunlight and fresh air came from the portal, Mima entered through it and closed the portal behind her. The ghost flew high in the air, marvelling at the sight of Gensokyo. An evil grin appeared on the green-haired woman's face, oh how it will be an amazing stepping stone for her true plans, especially after she gains the Yin-Yang Orb for herself. "The Great Mima has returned, and she's here to fulfil her true destiny: ruling over all that exist!"

Mima disappeared, the ghost off to find a headquarters, and then some minions.

* * *

The full moon shined brightly above the Hakurei shrine in another peaceful night in Gensokyo. The air was cool and quiet, you could hear the sounds of insects as they buzzed and flew through the air and did many other things that insects do. Genji was sitting on the shrine porch, looking up at a group of fireflies as they flew around in the air, like little green lights that moved in the air by themselves. Genji looked back towards the shrine's open doors, seeing Reimu sleep. Unlike most times, Reimu wasn't sleeping underneath the kotatsu (which Genji was happy about), instead being wrapped up in blankets and sleeping.

Genji looked away from Reimu, the sigh of annoyance escaping from the old turtle. "I know you're here, just reveal yourself already." Genji said in an annoyed voice, miraculously Reimu wasn't woken up. There wasn't anything akin to a response, unless you consider the fireflies flying away as one. "I know you're watching, Yukari. Quit hiding yourself."

A rift in reality appeared in front of Genji, red ribbons tied around the two side of the rift. Within the rift, or Gap as it is called, showed a dark void with a myriad of gaping eyes staring out at Genji. A female emerged from the rift, having golden eyes and long hair that was equally golden, loose with small, red ribbons tied around the tips. She was wearing a purple Chinese-style tabard with various trigrams over a pale pink Western-style dress with black bands on the sleeves that had a white design on them. She was carrying a pink lace parasol and a paper fan, a smile on her face.

"Oh my, looks like I have been caught~." The woman, Yukari, said, covering her mouth with her paper fan as she continued to grin at the ancient spirit, though not as ancient as her. "Congratulations, Genji, you have now figured that I have been watching over your little maiden. Tell me, what do you wish for your prize."

"How have you been keeping aware of Lady Reimu?" Genji asked, glaring at the youkai, though she didn't fear it. She took others' hatred of her in pride, and even if she didn't, all the glares would be an old hat at this point. "I thought that you spent all your time sleeping."

"Ran and Chen may be my strongest and most well known shikigami, but they are far from my only shikigami." Yukari said, creating a Gap behind her, the boundary-manipulating youkai sitting down on the rift in reality. "I have more shikigami than you can imagine. They're just informants, so they are harder to notice, I don't even know their names nor care for them as much as I care for my fox and cat, but they get the job done in exchange for money and food."

Genji raised an eye at Yukari. "What reason do you have to spy on Reimu with your slaves?" The turtle asked.

"The Hakurei are existential for the survival of Gensokyo, without them, neither Gensokyo nor the youkai would be able to exist, at least without large consequences." Yukari explained, crossing her legs, a more serious expression appearing on her face. "I watch over all Hakurei shrine maidens in training to ensure that they would be able to protect this paradise we live in. Besides, she shows more promise than any other Hakurei before her."

"How so?"

Yukari grinned at Genji. "For one, she has already begun to use the Fantasy Seal." The boundary-manipulating youkai responded, laughing as she saw the nonplussed expression on Genji's face. As the turtle spirit remained frozen in surprise, Yukari opened a Gap, reaching into it and pulling out a metal skewer with meat. Yukari began to eat the meat on the skewer, Genji began to regain his sense of reality.

"But the Fantasy Seal is a powerful Hakurei attack that can only be taught, and even if I can't use it myself, I can still teach the maidens to do it as I have throughout the millennium." Genji said, still trying to comprehend Yukari's words. There was a great possibility that she was only saying that to mess with Genji, especially with her nonchalance, but one could never be too sure with this woman. "How was she at all capable of using it, and when did she use it?"

"Simple, really." Yukari responded, the youkai having finished off all the meat on her skewer, opening a Gap and throwing the piece of metal in the rift. "She used it from memory, and luckily that allows the first question to tie in with the second question. The first time was against Konngara, she was nearly beaten by the oni until she remembered when she saw it performed by her mother, and thus she was able to use it by memory. Reimu had forgotten about that, though she managed to remember the second time, which was against Sariel. Though it wasn't as successful against him as it was against Konngara, though it did allow her to learn and use the Fantasy Heaven. Of course, she doesn't remember that either, and I doubt she will be able to use it again until she meets a similar incident in her life, so there is no reason for you to teach her about the Fantasy Heaven. However, I do expect you to teach her about Seal."

Genji was once again nonplussed, surprised on the information that Yukari had filled in on him from mostly out of the view. When Genji was able to think clearly again, Yukari and the Gap that she was sitting on had disappeared. Genji grumbled, of course Yukari would cause confusion; it its not chaos or trouble, then its confusion; that's the way that the gap youkai works.

Genji looked back at Reimu. He was still trying to fully comprehend that the little girl sleeping, wrapped up in those blankets, was already using some of the strongest techniques ever known to the Hakurei family. He never knew that she was capable of such power, just goes to show.

" _I guess I'll have to start making her training harder and teaching her the more advanced aspects of being a Hakurei shrine maiden._ " Genji thought, the turtle seemingly shrugging before entering the shrine and sliding the doors closed. " _Eh, I'll get onto it another day. Now is the time for sleep._ "

* * *

 **Author's Note: And that wraps up the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc for real now. This chapter is really more about talking than any actual fighting, which honestly makes this chapter more like a break, though there is nothing wrong with that. As you can already see, this chapter came with foreshadowing for the _Mystic Square_ arc with some early appearances of Shinki, Alice and Yumeko, as well as an additional extra early appearance for Yukari; after all, she is an important character in the existence of Gensokyo.**

 **...And she's one of my favourite characters in Touhou, if not my outright favourite character, but hey at least I have good reason/excuse for giving her a debut before the Windows era, though I might put in a few more references and some foreshadowing for the Windows era before I end the PC-98 era, it all depends really.**

 **And of course there is the fact that I have already began writing to get you lovable readers hyped up for the _Story of Eastern Wonderland_ arc, what with Mima regaining her powers and whatnot. Of course there is going to be at least a few weeks between this arc and that arc.**

 **Not only would Reimu need some time to continue her training so she can operate like she did in _Story of Eastern Wonderland_ , but I honestly believe that Mima is going to need some time. After not having her full powers for over a century, Mima is going to need some time to make sure she still has them mastered. And of course she will need some time to get all her minions for the next arc, especially in regards to Marisa, who Mima has canonically trained to use magic**

 **Anyways, I am looking forward to this next arc because I can be more inventive with Reimu's fighting style, instead of it just being her throwing some ofuda and hitting the opponent in the face with the Yin-Yang Orb. So yeah, she'll be flying on Genji (until Windows era) and shooting out danmaku from here on.**

 **All reviews, even constructive criticism, are welcomed, see you all in the next chapter~.**


	11. Tanks 'n Monsters

Reimu was sweeping leaves scattered around on the shrine road into a pile, the action being slightly annoying as wind kept on blowing them back around the ground. Genji snickered as the little girl kept on grumbling as she swept the same leaves constantly.

It was unbeknownst to the trainee and the turtle spirit that they were being watched.

In a dark dimension, there was a purple, glowing crystal ball, showing the Hakurei shrine and the two residents on the area. Mima smiled at the sight, her prey living her life like there was absolutely nothing for her to fear, unaware that that soon her little life will be at its end, and soon the rest of humanity will either die or live the rest of their worthless lives as her slaves. Well, except for the humans that are already serving her as her minions, they will get to live lives above that of being a slave, provided that they served her well.

The crystal orb in front of Mima then began to blink with a light and make a beeping sound, detecting a rip in time and space in the area that was shown in the orb. Mima bit her bottom lip in minor annoyance, the ghost moving her hands as they hovered over the crystal orb, changing the view to face towards the torii gate, where the crystal orb was detecting the manipulation.

A portal opened within the gate, showing the hellish landscape of Jigoku as Konngara passed through, the oni having a solemn look on her face. " _Great, what is that idiot doing there?_ " Mima thought as she glared at the black-haired woman through the crystal orb.

"Hey, Konngara~." Reimu said as she noticed the Astral Knight, waving cheerily towards her, the shrine maiden dropping her broom as she hoped at she could uses Konngara's appearance as an excuse to stop the tedious and annoying leaf sweeping.

Konngara silently waved at Reimu and gave her a small smile, though she kept her solemn expression. "I have some important and terrifying news, Reimu and Genji." Konngara said in a very serious voice, getting the complete attention of Reimu and Genji as the two looked at the oni and listened to her carefully. "Mima has found the seal that has kept her powers, she has now escaped Jigoku and is most likely planning her revenge against the Hakurei shrine, and against humanity in general."

"What?!" Genji outburst, a mixture of terror and anger in the turtle's eyes.

The Yin-Yang Orb suddenly jumped out from the shrine, glowing brightly with holy light. The orb stopped in front of Konngara, Reimu and Genji, the image of SinGyoku appearing above the legendary item. "You cannot be serious!" SinGyoku yelled, anger very clear in both of the twin's voices as they spoke in unison. "She shouldn't have been able to regain her magic, or escape from Jigoku. How could something like that happen?!"

"I don't know. My minions didn't tell me of the news until after she had already long left." Konngara answered. "I just came here to warn you that she is no doubt going to come for your head, and the Hakurei powers. You must make sure to train greatly and keep vigilant, Mima could attack at anytime with anything. You must be careful."

"It's okay, I already defeated Mima once, so I can defeat her again." Reimu responded rather arrogantly, giving a haughty smile with her fists against her hips. Konngara, Genji and SinGyoku looked at Reimu, knowing that she is unaware of just how strong Mima truly is. The aforementioned ghost, who was watching everything without anyone aware, was outright glaring at Reimu for the trainee's audacity.

"Lady Reimu, she isn't anything like when you fought her in Jigoku." SinGyoku warned, the yin-yang spirit separating, turning back into the twins Sin and Gyoku. Sin decided to speak first. "The Mima that you faced had only possessed a fraction of her strength, maybe not even that. She possesses skill and strength in magic that even Magic Gods have grown to fear through the growing times, even some of the most powerful and most skilled of your ancestors have had difficulty with her before her powers were finally sealed up. You'll be lucky to survive this."

"It doesn't matter." Reimu answered again. "I have beat her in the past, and I'll beat her again, and I'll continue beating her until she gives up for good."

"My... I'm really going to enjoy taking her life away." Mima commented as she looked at the crystal ball, the ghost turning around the face towards many shadowy figures behind her. "Make sure that she survives, not only can the Hakurei powers be passed onto the one that kills the last member of the Hakurei bloodline, but I want to revel in delight as I finally bring an end to the accursed family of humans that have been the bane of my plans of over a millennium."

"As you wish, Madam Mima." A myriad of female voices spoke as the figures bowed down in front of her. Mima smiled at her bowing minions, the ghost turning back towards the crystal ball.

"Nevertheless, you should make sure to train harder so you're ready for when Mima strikes again, she might be the most deadly foe you have ever faced in your young life." Konngara said to Reimu, the oni turning back to the portal to Jigoku within the torii gate, re-entering the dimension that she rules over.

"Hmm, looks like I'll have to start my attack earlier than planned." Mima said as she turned away from the crystal orb, the glowing within the orb disappearing, the image of the Hakurei shrine vanishing. Mima looked at the shadowy figures, her arms crossed over her chest. "Alright, ladies, looks like we're going to have to strike sooner. I don't want anymore slacking off, train yourselves to the limit before the end of the week, that's when we start. The same goes for you, Rika, I want you to create the greatest and strongest of your tanks and monsters, and I want you to create as many of them as possible."

The shadowy figures nodded at Mima, though they still stood there, the green-haired magic user beginning to look at them in annoyance.

"What are you doing, still standing here?" Mima yelled, causing all of the shadowy figures to jump and become startled. "C'mon, chop-chop!"

* * *

"Fantasy Seal." Reimu chanted as she summoned six yin-yang, the orb spinning around her waist, glowing with magical lights. The purple-haired trainee pointed her gohei towards six trees, the yin-yang hitting them respectively. The six trees were all destroyed by the yin-yang, their sacrifice worth it as they helped with the training for the new protector of the paradise of fantasy.

"You're progressing tremendously once again, Lady Hakurei." Genji complimented, the turtle spirit walking next to the young trainee. "It seems like you have almost perfected the Fantasy Seal. Now, back to your training in shooting danmaku."

Reimu nodded at the grandfather figure, taking out the Yin-Yang Orb from her sleeve and throwing it into the air. The holy relic grew in size before splitting into two smaller versions, the two other versions flying down to Reimu's side, floating above the ground. Reimu pointed her gohei at the empty air, shooting out multiple magical bullets at the air.

"Ha, I can finally use danmaku~." Reimu said happily. "This is way better than having to whack around the Yin-Yang Orb, at least this time I won't get hit in the face by my danmaku... hopefully."

"Indeed, you are exceling in every lesson you are learning. Though, I have yet to see you float above the ground for even a second." Genji said, the turtle's face becoming serious as he mentioned Reimu's lack of flying ability, though it was mostly in fear. Reimu began to tear up a little as Genji mentioned her constant failure in the art of flying, the flying turtle quickly trying to console her. "H-Hey it's okay, your mother and great-great-great grandmother had troubles with learning with flying. Besides you're still small and light enough for me to carry, so I can help you with learning your flying skills."

Reimu started to sniffle, barely stopped from bursting into tears. "Thanks, Gramps, you know how to make me feel better." Reimu responded, the trainee soon grapping hold of a lock of her hair and holding in front of her face in annoyance. "I really hope that I get to master the Yin-Yang Orb soon so I can turn my hair back to normal. I liked having purple hair and first, but now I want them to be brown again."

"Your hair colour is hardly the first thing you should worry about or focus on right now." Genji said, turning his head from side to side. "Remember, Mima is still on the loose, and if I know her, which I sadly do, she's plotting some sort of ploy."

Reimu laughed at Genji. "Don't worry, Gramps," Reimu said, the little girl holding out her gohei in front of her, closing one of her eyes like she was aiming with a gun. "If Mima shows her face, I'll fill it with more bullets and ofuda than she could handle, and after that she'll give up and beg for forgiveness, and we no longer will have to fear Mima again."

Genji was about to say something, however he saw some approaching in his peripherals. The old turtle turned his head slowly and looked, his eyes widening as he saw missiles with smiley faces painted on them approaching. Everything was a blur, one second Genji was standing next to Reimu, the next he was on his side while Reimu had her face planted against the shrine ground. Genji floated back up on his feet, about to ask the current trainee if she was okay, however he could hear and smell fire burning wood. Genji turned his head to the side, his eyes widening as he saw the Hakurei shrine was on fire. Genji quickly mumbled something, activating charms that were used in the construction of the shrine. Immediately the fire went out, but it didn't change that there was a gigantic hole in the shine, with most of it either burned or destroyed.

"Nnnnnn." Reimu mumbled as she got back up, rubbing the back of her head. "What happene- OH MY GODS, THE SHRINE!"

Reimu ran towards the shrine, almost tripping as she ran towards what remained of her home. The trainee fell down to her knees, tears appearing on her eyes.

"What... what happened?" Reimu asked in a broken voice. looking towards Genji with lacrimal eyes. "Why would that happen? _Who_ would do this?"

" _Ah, seems your memory is as terrible as your personality. Tell me, do you really believe that you can defeat me?_ " A ghostly and familiar voice said from behind Reimu and Genji, the trainee and spirit turning around to see a translucent image of Mima, flickering slightly. The ghost had her hands on her hips, a wide and evil grin on her face. Reimu and Genji glared at the sorceress' image, not that it did anything to her grin. " _I mean you did get warned by Konngara and all that. And you basically declared war against me as you claimed that you could still beat me, there's that. You should have thought more carefully about what you said when it considers the most powerful and most merciless magus to exist, especially when she's watching. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha._ "

"Mima, I'm going to make you pay for this!" Reimu yelled angrily at the magic-using ghost, swinging her gohei around towards the image as she continued to smirk at her. "I'm going to beat you up until you start begging me for mercy, and after that I'm going to make you rebuild the shrine. Do you hear me?! You're going to pay greatly for this!"

Another voice, one like that of a young girl, could be heard from the image of Mima, though it didn't seem like it was coming from her. And judging by how surprised her face was, she didn't expect for Reimu and Genji to hear it. "Yeah right, like you could ever stand a chance against Madam Mima, Shorty." A young female voice said, once again from the image of Mima, though it seemed more like a projection at this point. "You can't even hold a candle to me, and everything I know about magic has been taught by Madam Mima. I probably would only need to use a fraction of my power and skill to mop the floor with you."

"Shush, Marisa, shush. You can stroke my ego later, but now is not the time." Mima said, her image seemingly vanishing, though her voice could still be heard. The green-haired ghost's image appeared again, brushing her skirt and her hair, clearing her throat. "Anyways, if you wish to fight me, come to Reimaden. Though I must warn you, along the way you'll come across my minions, and I can assure you that they are the most powerful, most dangerous, most deadly girls that you can imagine. After all, Rika is the one that sent those missiles your way. You're going to have to defeat her first... fat chance."

The image of Mima flickered out of existence. Reimu and Genji looked at the view of the torii gate and the horizon in front of the Hakurei shrine, seeing something unnatural appear. They were small, white, roundish ghosts with little eyes and red tongues that were hanging out of their mouths, wearing hitaikakushi on their heads.

"What are those things?" Reimu said as they all flew into the air, stopping and looking at the shrine maiden trainee and Genji.

"Those are Bakebake, little ghosts." Genji answered, the old turtle looking up at the creatures as they stared back at him and Reimu. "But there's something unnatural about them, I can't sense any spiritual energy coming from them whatsoever."

"Oh really? Phew, I thought that I couldn't sense their spiritual energy because I wasn't skilled enough or something." Reimu said, the trainee walking onto Genji, the magic turtle able to hold her weight easily. "Okay, so they're ghosts, like Mima. And they are probably strong, like Mima. And they are here, like Mima. Looks like they work for Mima and we must defeat them to get to here. Lets shoot 'em down!"

"As you wish, My Lady." Genji responded, flying up in the air and towards the odd Bakebake. The little ghosts quickly caught on to their intentions and began firing bullets at them... well, some of them at least. Most of the other Bakebake just continued to float there and stare at them. Some weren't even looking at the trainee and turtle, some being distracted by a butterfly or something else. And even the Bakebake that fought back were quite lacking; they only fired one single bullet and waited a few second before firing again, not to mention that all it took was one bullet to defeat them.

In only a few seconds, the massive swarm of Bakebake that seemed like they would be a challenge was already defeated.

Genji lowered to the ground until he was hovering over it, the turtle and Reimu floating over the shrine road as they continued to move forward towards more Bakebake that mysteriously had no spiritual energy coming from them. Reimu once again shot them down easily.

Genji reached to the bottom of the hill that the Hakurei shrine is on and continued to fly forwards. Reimu and Genji came across these strange glowing, glittery objects that were slightly harder than the Bakebake, but still very easy to destroy. The duo reached a bridge not far from where the hill that held the shrine was located, built over a large lake. Weird cannons with yin-yang symbols appeared from the lake, shooting even more bullets at the two. Even though they weren't much harder than the Bakebake and the glittery objects, they were starting to show that things wouldn't get easy anytime soon.

A tank then drove in front of Reimu and Genji, looking like any normal tank with the exception of a red shrine on top of it. "Genji, what is that?" Reimu asked, pointing at the tank as it shoot bullets at them from the cannon, though those unimpressive patterns were easily escaped.

"It's a tank with a fake shrine atop of it." Genji answered, effortlessly avoiding the bullets sent towards him and Reimu. "It appears to be some sort of Shrine Tank... How odd."

The Shrine Tank was easily destroyed, allowing Reimu and Genji to continue moving forward. There were mire Bakebake and glittery creatures along the bridge, but they were defeated easily.

"It's odd. Uncanny, even." Genji commented, the turtle still hovering above the ground as he continued to fly himself and Reimu forwards, the two no longer on the bridge. "They're weak, greatly so, but I should still detect their spiritual energy, especially in such a swarm. It's like they aren't even real ghosts."

"Ah, so you are catching on to the truth of my creations' existences." An unknown female voice said, catching the attention of Reimu and Genji as they were flying towards the woman behind the voice, stopping as they were right in front of her. She was of average height, with brown eyes and long brown hair in two braids. She was wearing a white shirt with a purple bow beneath the collar, with a red cape and black trousers. "Hello, I am Rika, the creator of The Shrine Tank and the monsters you have just faced. Marvellous, aren't they?"

 **Engineer of Unreality**

 **Rika**

"So you're the one that destroyed the shrine!" Reimu said, glaring at Rika and pointing her gohei towards the engineer, the brown-haired woman not feeling intimidated by the purple glare and wooden wand. "I'll avenge my shrine for what you did, then your master is next."

"Don't be cocky, Little Maiden." Rika responded, just standing there and not doing anything. "Madam Mima has got the help of me to defeat you and bring you to her so she can take your power of the Yin-Yang Orb to achieve her goals. And when she does, she'll rule over Gensokyo and beyond. And as a reward, I'll finally become the Queen of Monsters."

"Why did you tell us that?" Genji asked, raising an eyebrow towards the woman. "You know that this information could be used against your master now that we know her plot, right?"

"Oh, it won't matter much, really." Rika responded, giving Reimu and Genji an evil smile. "After all, neither of you two will be able to survive for much longer. Soon all that there will be is a dead turtle and a little girl being taken to the new ruler of this little patch of land and the worlds beyond."

"You don't scare me!" Reimu yelled, once again glaring and pointing her gohei towards Rika. "I don't sense any magic energy coming from you, I can defeat you easily."

"Oh ho ho ho, silly little child praying to a god that doesn't exist, you have no idea of what awaits you." Rika laughed, "You see, I'm not alone. My magic energy may be weak, but my genius in engineering has allowed me to create a machine that is perfect for defeating shrine maidens. Feast your eyes on The Ultimate Shrine Maiden-Destroying Tank, The Flower-Tank!"

Rika pulled out a grey, metal box from within her shirt, pressing a big red button on it. Rika threw the box over her head, the box exploding into a giant puff of smoke from behind her. The smoke eventually cleared, revealing a giant tank with red caterpillar tracks with a grey turret, round with the design of a yin-yang on top, vines and leaves around the turret and the main cannon. On the turret, under the large main cannon, were two smaller cannons.

 **'The Ultimate Shrine Maiden-Destroying Tank'**

 **Flower-Tank**

Rika turned around and jumped onto the caterpillar tracks, opening up a latch where the yin-yang was placed, entering the large tank. "Ha, so what do you think~?" Rika asked, her torso and the rest of her top half of her body still sticking out, smiling pridefully. "Cool, isn't it? Bet you never expected this to be the face of your defeat~."

Reimu and Genji were silent, looking at Rika and The Flower-Tank with blank eyes. "It looks kinda lame." Reimu responded bluntly.

"WHAAAA...?!" Rika responded incredulously, her mouth hanging wide open.

"Yeah, it honestly does." Genji concurred with Reimu, causing Rika's face to become even more incredulous. "It honestly doesn't look that impressive. It looks like any regular, run-of-the-mill tank, except it looks like it has been left neglected for years."

"It's utilitarian." Rika argued, crossing her arms over her chest, glaring at the turtle and the trainee. "It doesn't matter what you think, neither of you will be able to live for another hour. Prepare yourself for the terrifying might of the Flower-Tank."

Rika disappeared into the Flower-Tank, closing the open latch. White pellets, like the ones usually used against Reimu. Reimu and Genji easily dodged the bullets, they were so few in numbers and moved rather slowly. Reimu shot danmaku towards the 'Shrine Maiden-Destroying Tank', little clink sounds coming from the tank as the magic bullets and ofuda hit it, though it showed very little to no signs of being damaged by the attacks.

"Ha ha ha ha! Fool, do you really believe that such weak magic bullets and your flimsy paper charms can damage my magnum opus?" Rika laughed from within the tank, her voice coming from little speakers that must have been hidden on the Flower-Tank. The smaller cannons extended forwards, shooting out lasers towards Reimu and Genji. The duo were taken by surprise, one of the lasers grazing at Reimu's side, destroying the piece of clothing that was hit, burning the area around that hit bit. Reimu grasped at the burnt piece of flesh, gritting her teeth as she tried to stop herself from screaming in pain. "Ha! See? You can't even put a _dent_ on my Flower-Tank, and yet I've already surprised you with lasers and began hitting you and... GET BACK DOWN HERE!"

Genji rose himself and Reimu into the air, seemingly out of the range of Rika and her weird tank. "Are you okay, Lady Reimu?" Genji asked, looking up at the purple-haired trainee.

"I've gone through worse pain and damage, I can say that at least." Reimu responded.

"I'm not done with you two just yet!" Rika yelled. Slowly, with a loud whirring sound, the cannon of the Flower-Tank rose up towards the flying turtle and the maiden riding him, shooting the same white bullets towards them. Luckily, the bullets were still just as slow as before, if not slower. Honestly, the only dangerous thing about the Flower-Tank was the laser cannons, and even then they were still facing in front of the tank, away from the two, and they were now aware of them and able to dodge them.

Reimu continued shooting danmaku and ofuda towards the Flower-Tank, hitting the weapon. Rika didn't care, in fact she was quite sure of herself as she operated the tank from the inside. "Don't be foolish, Hakurei Maiden. Soon you and the flying fossil will become to exhausted and lose. And unlike you two, my Flower-Tank doesn't get tired, and it's not like you can damage it anyways. Give up now and I might be able to convince Mima to give you a quick and painless death."

"Never!" Reimu and Genji yelled, continuing to shoot towards the Flower-Tank and dodge Rika's bullets.

The duo could hear Rika laugh from the invisible speakers attached to her tank. "Oh ho ho ho, your foolhardy nature is absolutely amusing." The engineer said. "This baby is invulnerable, at least compared to your weak attacks. Keep exhausting yourselves, by all means, it doesn't change the inevitable."

The battle began to grow tedious as Reimu and Genji dodged the bullets with their own attacks having no real effect, and even though it was good that Rika couldn't use the lasers anymore, it was starting to get a bit boring that all she was using only those bullets. Her endless boasting wasn't helping.

"Lady Reimu, our bullets are doing nothing to her Flower-Tank." Genji as he lowered himself and Reimu until they were hovering above the ground, having some moment to take a breath as the cannon on the tank lowered down slowly. "If we wish to damage her tank in the slightest, you're going to have to use the Fantasy Seal. I know it uses up a lot energy and you need to use it sparsely, but this seems like on of the moments when it _must_ be used."

"Right." Reimu responded, nodding at Genji.

"Oh ho ho ho. Don't get so ahead of yourselves, cocky shrine workers." Rika said, once again firing bullets and even lasers at the duo, though they were both being dodged... by standing right in front of her. "Your Fantasy Seal doesn't stand a chance against my Flower-Tank. You in general don't stand a chance against the Flower-Tank. You can't beat me!"

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu said, summoning six yin-yang, two of each glowing a specific colour, the magic yin-yang shooting towards the foliage-covered tank at high speeds.

"Ha ha ha ha ha! That won't... What's this? 'Warning: Powerful attack approaching'?" Rika said, the yin-yang circling around the Flower-Tank. "H-Hey, uh, wait, we can s-sort this out. You can give yourselves t-to Mima and definitely die peaceful-UWAH!"

The yin-yang all hit the Flower-Tank at once, causing it to explode. Reimu and Genji watched as a humanoid figure was shoot out through the cloud of smoke created from the explosion, landing on the ground. Genji flew himself and Reimu closer to the humanoid figure, revealing it to be Rika, unconscious and covered in soot. Rika quickly jumped back onto her feet, wiping off most of the soot, though she still managed to stay at least partially covered in the black substance.

Rika coughed, a smoke cloud of soot coming out of her mouth as a result. "Okay, so you managed to beat me, I'll admit that." Rika said, the angry engineer pointing her finger towards Reimu and Genji and yelling. "But don't think this is over! I'll make an even better tank, one that is bigger, stronger, flashier! It will have more cannons that will be harder for you to dodge, and it will look better, just you wait~!"

Rika then ran off into the woods. disappearing. "Should we run after her?" Reimu asked Genji, looking down at the holy animal.

"I doubt it." Genji responded, the turtle flying further through Gensokyo, towards Reimaden. "She is powerless without her tanks, and I don't see anymore of her artificial monsters anywhere, so I don't think she can be a problem for us. Besides, now that we know where Mima is, we should go there and stop her; she is one of the most powerful, most dangerous threats that Gensokyo has ever known, we can't wait around and let her find somewhere else to hide, especially now that she is attacking us."

"Okay." Reimu said.

* * *

"Well, that was a disappointment." Mima said, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at the crystal orb, still showing Reimu's adventure, including her battle against Rika. Next to the disappointed ghost was a little girl with short, red hair in a purple witch outfit with a white bow on her hat, holding a little wand with a golden star at the tip, also watching everything that is shown on the crystal orb. "Though I didn't really put all too much faith in Rika, so I'm only mildly displeased."

"Aww man, and it really looked like Rika was going to win." The little girl complained, being the same girl that was heard from Mima's projection. "That little eggplant head couldn't put a dent in Rika's Flower-Tank and she lost. And when she was starting to make me think that she was cool."

"Don't get too mad about it, Marisa." Mima said dismissively about Rika, the green-haired ghost looking towards the little girl. "Rika put all her efforts into the tank's defences. It may have made it otherwise indestructible, but that was it. And in the end, the defence wasn't all too efficient. Against a bunch of magic bullets and ofuda, it works, but the Fantasy Seal is strong enough to one-shot even youkai with enough strength to wipe countries off the face of the world. She should have put more effort into the speed and attack power of her tank, as well as its overall arsenal. It was all her fault for loosing."

"Still makes me mad." Marisa said, crossing her arms over her chest angrily, puffing up her cheeks.

"Meh, Noroiko will do much better against Reimu than Rika." Mima said, the ghost turning her green eyes back towards the orb. "And if _she_ fails, Meira will show the trainee the true strength of my minions."

Marisa cleared her throat deeply and loudly, causing Mima to look at the little girl, the same little girl glaring at her.

"Oh, don't be offended, Marisa." Mima assured, patting the red-haired girl on the head. "You are far more than a mere minion; you are my protégé; my star pupil. Even if they disappoint me with their weakness, I know you never will."

Marisa smiled, the witch looking back at the crystal orb as it showed Reimu and Genji flying through the forest, the witch raising an eyebrow as she saw something weird in the image. "Hey, Mima, what is that thing?"

Mima squinted her eyes as she focussed on what Marisa was pointing at, seeing a weird, metal bird with a camera on its head following after the duo, who were seemingly unaware of it. "I... I have no idea what that is." Mima responded, looking further at it. "Hmm, 'STRAWBERRY INC.', never heard of that before. Whatever, it doesn't matter anyways, it's not like it's behind anything important. Now is time to focus on the maiden and my victory."

* * *

Whilst Mima and Marisa were watching the trainee and turtle duo, and unintentionally the odd bird of metal, they weren't aware that the same bird was being used to watch, as well as collect information and data about magic from, the two.

At an unknown area of Gensokyo, where there is a spaceship that would easily be confused by the denizens as odd ruins, as the concept of science is foreign in a world ruled by magic. Within these 'ruins' is a dark room, the only known light being a screen that showed Reimu and Genji, the two completely unaware that they were being watched by either party. The people in question that were watching through the odd bird were two girls.

"She defeated that engineer girl and her creations easily, we barely got any data on magic from that battle." One of the girls said. She was fifteen year old girl with blonde hair and yellow eyes. She was wearing a rather short sailor uniform that was completely white with a blue neckerchief, a white hat and a blue ribbon. She looked towards the other girl, the other girl being eighteen years in age. She had dark red hair that was seemingly shoulder length, though it was actually long, tied into a braided ponytail with a red ribbon tied around the tip, and red eyes with a matching red skirt, vest and cloth shoulders.

"Doesn't matter, Chiyuri." The red-haired girl responded towards the blonde girl, Chiyuri, a serious look in her red eyes, though it also seemed like there was emotions of deep thought in her eyes. "Her magic power is very low, and her inventions and artificial monsters are nothing compared to what I have achieved with the artificial magic. Though, considering how primitive this world appears to be, it is quiet an accomplishment to achieve what she has achieved. Maybe she _could_ have some use, we could give her some of our technology, in exchange for some data of magic."

"You mean a quid pro quo, Yumemi?" Chiyuri asked the red-haired woman, Yumemi.

"Indeed, my student." Yumemi nodded, her fingers against her chin as she nodded, her eyes closed and her mouth in a smile. "I believe that if we give her access to our equipment, she can truly use her potential and create something far greater than that piece of trash. She'll love it, and all she'll have to do is let us collect data for magic when she uses it for her revenge against the trainee."

"Genius as always, Miss Yumemi." Chiyuri praised of her professor, the student walking towards a keyboard, tapping away at the keys. "Do you want me to send a Strawberry Bird after her so we'll know where to find her after this shrine maiden and the ghost are done?"

"Of course I am genius, I have a PhD in science and many, many doctorates." Yumemi responded, feeling confident after the praise. "And yes, do it right away. If she runs too far then it'll be a nightmare to find her again, we cannot lose such an opportunity for the world of science. And for the world of magic."

"Right away, Miss." Chiyuri said, giving Yumemi a salute, immediately continuing her clicking of the keyboard. A square opened near the keyboard on a metal surface, another metal bird with a camera head and the Strawberry Inc logo on the side of the camera head. A large door opened, letting in the sunlight of Gensokyo. The Strawberry Bird flew out of the door, said door closing after the machine left.

Yumemi smirked to herself, however she soon began to glare at the darkness. "RUUKOTO, WHERE IS MY STRAWBERRY MILKSHAKE AND CHEESECAKE?!"

"Right here, Lady Yumemi." An android maid said as she appeared from the darkness, holding a plate with a slice of strawberry cheesecake on it in one hand and a bottle of strawberry milkshake in the other hand. She was wearing a light blue and white maid uniform with a red bow, a yellow nuclear warning symbol on her back. Also, her artificial hair was green.

"Ah, perfect~!" Yumemi exclaimed, happily taking the plate and milkshake.

* * *

 **Author's Note: And so begins the _Story of Eastern Wonderland_ arc, where Reimu will eventually fight one of the few PC-98 excusive characters that everyone in the Touhou fandom knows about.**

 **Of course this is a bit of a change from the previous arc, as Reimu now fights differently than in the _Highly Responsive to Prayers_ arc (though the same could be said for the differences between the actual games), though we now have Fantasy Seal as a regular attack (sorta), and that doesn't exist in the PC-98 era in general (at least to my knowledge). **

**The main reason I made the actual battle between Reimu and Rika rather short was because by the time we got to Rika beginning to attack, I had already written about 2,000+ words, plus its a little hard to get creative when it's just a tank with laser beams attached. Plus, a tank probably wouldn't be that good against magical girls that can shoot lasers and bullets of mass destruction like it's nothing.**

 **And yeah, Yumemi and Chiyuri (and their nuclear-powered maid) have made an early appearance in this, though they won't be doing much outside of collecting data on magic. They're not meant to be important until it's their arc. Though they will have some influence on the eventual appearance of the Evil Eye Sigma. Mostly just a thought that occurred to me that I decided to use. And I know that canonically Yumemi constantly whacks Chiyuri on the head, but that won't be seen until later; there's just no reason for her to do it now.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are welcomed.**


	12. Youkai of Curses

Reimu was riding Genji through the magical forests of Gensokyo, the trainee wondering something. "Do you know where Reimaden is, Gramps?" Reimu asked, looking down at the flying turtle that was carrying her through the youkai-filled forest. "I don't remember Mima mentioning any destinations. What if we don't find her?"

"Do not fret, Lady Reimu." Genji answered, the turtle flying at fast speeds, ironic because of how slow he is when he is _not_ flying. "This is hardly the first time that Mima has used Reimaden as her headquarters. I have been in enough battles between your ancestors and that vile ghost, I can locate Reimaden with my eyes closed. It's useful to have a powerful memory that lasts for centuries."

"You will not survive to meet Madam Mima." A raspy voice hissed from behind the trees. Reimu and Genji looked at the trees, seeing nothing but darkness between the giant, wooden plants.

"You are a lowly human and a little turtle." Another raspy voice hissed, once again the owner of the voice was unseen by the trainee and holy animal as they looked for it. "You could never survive against us, much less Madam Mima. We were trained specifically by her to kill you, we will not fail her; she's terrifying when disappointed."

"Show yourselves!" Reimu yelled out at the darkness. There was no response. The maiden growled in anger, gripping her gohei and ofuda. "Cowards! You're just a bunch of cowards! If you're really able to kill me, then you wouldn't be hiding - you would be trying to kill me right now."

"You're quite mature for a girl your age." The first raspy voice said again. Bats flew out from the darkness of forest, landing on the stumps of chopped trees that were in front of Reimu and Genji. The bats transformed in front of their eyes, turning into humanoid, bipedal bat creatures, their arms and ears remaining the same, though their bat faces looked a little more human; it was honestly a disgusting amalgam of a man face and bat face. It might even be called grotesque. "Scary, aren't we? Don't we look like the monsters of your nightmares?"

"I'm not afraid of you." Reimu said, pointing her gohei at the grotesque bat creatures. "You're just youkai, even the spiders that have began living under the shrine are a hundred times scarier than you'll ever be. Besides, you're cowards; you wouldn't show yourselves until I, a little girl, told you to come out. Even children aren't afraid of cowards."

The bat creatures were noticeably becoming enraged by the trainee's lack of fear. "Why you...!" One of the bats growled, baring its sharp fangs towards the little girl and her turtle. "Don't you dare say that about us! Even adult humans run away upon sight of us. We are terrifying bat youkai!"

"Honestly, you all are quite weak for youkai." Genji commented plainly, causing the bats to look at him with incredulous expressions. "The only reason why so many humans are afraid of you is because of human nature and lack of skill and ability. If those humans had magic, you would probably be begging for their mercy. Even if you were to be remembered as the youkai that gave Mima the power to control the Yin-Yang Orbs, she would still forget you in seconds. The weak mean little to Mima the Malicious."

The bat in front of the others, supposedly the leader, let out a high-pitched screech as it flapped its wings, the aforementioned screech causing Reimu, Genji and the other bats to cover their ears. "How dare you show such rudeness to superior beings!" The leader bat roared, so irate that he didn't notice the trainee in front of him pulling out a paper charm. "We are trained by The Great Mima herself, we are infini-GAARK."

The leader bat was decapitated as Reimu threw an ofuda at its neck, the holy charm cutting right through the body part. The bat's head and body fell down to the grassy ground, separated. Such a sight would have been more horrifying if it weren't for the fact that this bat was still a youkai, and thus would only be dead for a transient time. So neither Reimu or Genji were horrified by the sight. Not even the bat's comrades had so much as blinked an eye at his decapitation.

"You won't get past us!" Another bat yelled, seemingly becoming the new leader as the past leader's body was already dissolving into pure magic. Reimu and Genji took notice of the disappearing corpse, knowing it would be a matter of time before the youkai resurrects.

"We'll such your blood until you can't move."

"We'll decorate you will bloody cuts."

"We'll feast on your turtle and bring you to Madam Mima."

"Lady Reimu," Genji said in a bored voice, not bothering to look up at the purple-haired trainee as he looked at the vaudeville of a threat in front of them. "I believe it's time for you to show them what your danmaku is like."

"I agree, these guys aren't really all that funny." Reimu said. The bats hissed at the maiden, flying towards her with their fangs aimed right at her. With the Yin-Yang Orb still in two duplicates floating at her side, Reimu used her strengthened link to make them shoot magical bullets at the bats. The aforementioned youkai stopped and screamed in fear before they were destroyed by the magic bullets, the battle amounting to a diversion at best.

Oh wait, it's not over yet. "I live again!" The leader bat roared, returning to the world of the living, unaware that another ofuda was being sent its way. "And I shall not fall for the sa-GUARRK!"

There, diversion over.

Genji once again began flying towards the destination of Reimaden, not wanting to be around when the bat youkai resurrect and start giving him a headache.

As the duo continued to fly through the forest (and over even more tree stumps) they were encountered by a large group of fairies, those of whom immediately began to shoot danmaku at the trainee and turtle. "Jeez, why are these fairies attacking out of nowhere?" Reimu said as she rode Genji as he flew out of the way of the magic bullets, the purple-eyed trainee shooting down the dress-wearing annoyances with her own danmaku.

"For Madam Mima!" The group of fairies yelled in unison, like they were answering Reimu's question.

"Oh." Reimu responded, ceasing her danmaku firing for a short second in her surprise before resuming. "Why would Mima recruit a bunch of fairies, even regular humans know how weak they are."

"It is true that fairies are weak, but they have a high population count; it is easy to recruit an entire army of them, especially if you are strong." Genji answered as he continued to dodge the rather easy danmaku patterns being sent towards him by the winged creatures, though it was becoming easier as Reimu shot down more and more of them. "Though, the loyalty of a fairy is quite fickle, and sometimes they recruit themselves to one's allegiance without realising. Mima probably doesn't know that they work for her."

The duo flew further into the forest, the underlings of Mima becoming greater in quantity as they were surely coming closer to Reimaden. Despite the trouble and annoyance that Reimu and Genji were facing from the evil ghost's minions, they were able to go towards the dimensional hideout with relative ease.

This was mostly because the way towards Reimaden was mostly a straight path without anything really in the way except for just a bunch of tree stumps. It was like someone had cut down all the trees that were once there specifically to make the path towards Reimaden easier. That sent a dubious chill up Genji's spine, like this may be a trap set by Mima. Genji wouldn't doubt it, the ghost was like trickery incarnate. However it seemed like this path was the only way to confront her; the trees surrounding them were too close to each other for Genji to squeeze through them, and turning back to find a different path would probably take too long.

And that's not even taking into consideration that any possible other paths could be layed with magical traps set by the malicious spectre.

It seemed like the current path that they were taking was the only way towards Reimaden, Genji will just have to be prepared to save at least just Reimu if something suddenly explodes in their faces ina deadly way, or something else of evil magic happens.

The flying turtle then noticed something in the shape of a black ball up ahead. Something that was flying towards him and Reimu at high speeds!

"Look out, Lady Reimu!" Genji yelled as he turned his body in an attempt to move Reimu out of the way, the guardian spirit noticing that the mysterious orb was moving towards her head. Genji hit his leg against one of the tree stumps, his skin scrapping against the hard wood and cutting. Genji and Reimu crashed against one of the trees, fortunately the most dangerous damage that either of them received was mild bruises.

"Ow, what was that?" Reimu asked as she sat up and leaned against a tree, rubbing the side of her head as it ached and throbbed with pulsing pain. She remembers that she shot down some youkai that looked like a mix between little girls and crows, then Genji yelled something, and then she was suddenly slung against the tree as some black sphere had all but grazed her. Reimu looked to her side, towards where the black sphere had went. The trainee's eyes widened in horror as she saw a tree, one that looked unnatural in even Gensokyo; she could see a black colour spread around the bark and making it look dead, the healthy and green leaves turning a sickly black colour before wilting away in the air.

The tree was left without leaves, its many branches beginning to slump, looking as dead as anything could be.

Reimu just realised that she had seen a tree die before her eyes. She had seen many trees 'die' before, using by being cut apart by something; but this time it felt far more morbid than any time in the past.

"Genji, I think we should fly away!" Reimu yelled to the aforementioned magic turtle.

"I agree, My Lady." Genji said as he stood on his four feet, wincing his eyes as he felt a sharp pain from the wound on his leg, the turtle looking towards it to see it already healing; he just needs a few more seconds for it to fully repair itself. "Just wait a little while and I-."

"Oh no you don't~!" A female voice said from outside of Reimu's eyesight. Another black orb came out of nowhere, right from where the voice came from. The orb hit Genji, the turtle screaming in pain and falling down to his side. "You won't be getting away anytime soon, that was a combination of a curse of tremendous pain and a curse that you will never heal. It can only get worse for the both of you now."

Reimu looked to where the voice and black orb came from, seeing a tall woman who looked like she was an adult. She had short, dark red hair tied up in a red bow. She was wearing a purple dress with a purple shirt with white sleeves. Along the hem of her dress was a jagged, red design. She was also surrounded by an unnatural, purple aura.

 **Youkai of Curses**

 **Noroiko**

"Hello there, Reimu. I am Noroiko, a youkai of curses," The red-haired youkai introduced herself, almost seeing kind as she gave Reimu a little hand wave. The youkai then extended her arm to her side, another black orb that was like the others appearing above her outstretched palm. An evil grin was now on Noroiko's face, more black orbs surrounding her. "And I'm a servant of The Almighty Madam Mima."

"That attack that killed the tree, it was meant for me, wasn't it?" Reimu asked as she gave the curse youkai a glare, pointing her gohei towards her.

"Yes, indeed. That was a killing curse, though a low levelled one that would have just left you incapacitated and on death's door; the tree was killed by the curse because it wasn't as strong as you." Noroiko said, the orbs - curses - continuing to fly around her. "If it wasn't for that turtle of yours, that attack would have succeeded. And a killing curse takes up so much time to make. Oh well, that just means I can have more fun with you then. Maybe I can try out some new curses on you."

"I will not... let you... lay anymore curses... on Lady... Reimu...!" Genji warned, the turtle barely even able to talk through the incapacitating pain.

Noriko just laughed at Genji. "You're kidding me, right? I gave you a curse that leaves you in pain that stops you from being able to even _think_ properly." The red-haired youkai said towards the immortal turtle, turning her attention towards the trainee that is her intended target. "As for you..."

Noriko suddenly shot magical bullets towards Reimu, hitting her completely off guard. Reimu managed to shoot some ofuda and danmaku back at the curse wielder, the youkai flying in the air after only a few of the danmaku had hit her, though none of the paper charms had even grazed her. The curse youkai once again shot some magical bullets towards her, though they lacked the curses she usually used. This time the purple-eyed trainee was able to run out of the way, throwing more ofuda towards Noroiko.

Noroiko lowered herself back down towards the ground, the black orb of the curses still surrounding her, a grin of sorts on her face like she didn't consider the maiden in front of her as a threat. "Hmm, what to use first? Maybe I'll give you a curse that will cover you in painful sores. Or maybe a curse that'll leave you ill. Or maybe a curse that will leave you sick beyond healing."

Noroiko sent her curse orbs towards Reimu as she spoke of her curses, like those were the curses she was sending towards her. Reimu shot danmaku towards Noroiko, the youkai swiftly moving out of the way and once again sending her curse orbs towards the trainee. Noriko outstretched an arm towards Reimu, the youkai becoming somewhat surprised as she didn't see any black orbs passing towards the maiden. She then realised that she had used up all her curse orbs. Not that it worried Noroiko, she can always create more curse orbs.

And it's not like the little girl in front of her is a threat.

Noroiko shot bullets towards Reimu before the trainee could have the chance to do the same thing towards her, the youkai simultaneously creating more curses to send towards the little girl. It was then that the unexpected had happened, that Reimu threw an ofuda towards Noroiko, the talisman miraculously managing to slip through the space between the youkai's bullets, flying towards her. Noroiko's eyes had widened, the ofuda was too close for her to dodge. Noroiko protected herself with her arm, the ofuda stabbing into her arm, though it had stopped as it was halfway into her arm.

Noroiko hissed in pain, the ofuda remaining lodged in her arm as it stung her with its holy power, burning her skin and flesh as the same holy power was the complete antithesis of what she is made of. Noroiko pinched at the piece of ofuda that stuck out with her thumb and index finger, hissing more in pain as the pads of the fingers were being burnt by the paper charm. Noroiko let out a little scream of pain as she pulled the ofuda out, throwing at the ground. The red-haired youkai looked at the pads of her thumb and finger, seeing them burnt. The curse youkai knew that she didn't have to look at her arm to know the damage done by the ofuda.

"Alright, enough playing around." Noroiko said towards Reimu as she glared at her, finally taking the trainee seriously.

Noroiko created and shot more curse orbs towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee dodging and cartwheeling out of the way of the curses, the plant life and trees dying as they were hit by the black orbs.

"Stand still, you annoying little human!" Noroiko yelled as she continued to send black orbs Reimu's way, the purple-auraed youkai beginning to grow angry of the little girl. "I am a powerful curse youkai, I have sent many humans into death and lives of suffering with ease, I will not let a little girl defeat me!"

Reimu tripped on a tree root, the trainee barely getting back up onto her feet before another one of those curse orbs could touch her. Reimu threw more ofuda towards Noroiko, the youkai barely able to dodge the holy charm that would sting her like a hornet. The curse youkai was temporarily open as she wasn't focussing on the human girl, the purple-haired maiden quickly using the Yin-Yang Orbs to shoot danmaku at the off guard red-haired. Noroiko was hit by the danmaku, the red-haired youkai letting out a yelp of pain and falling to the ground.

Reimu made a run towards Genji, the trainee skidding to her knees as she was in front of the turtle, still barely able to move from crippling pain, his wound remaining open. Reimu bit her bottom lip in worry; usually Genji's wounds would all heal in seconds, as he is meant to be a spirit rather than a regular animal, and yet the cut on his leg relenting.

"Its the curses... she put on... me...!" Genji growled through gritted teeth, only able to remain conscious because he has taken far worse pain than this. "You need... to remove... these curses that... she has placed... on me...!"

"R-right." Reimu said, holding out a paper talisman in front of the cursed turtle. Reimu was trying to remember a ritual - a incantation - that was essential for removing curses.

"Lady Reimu...! Look out...!" Genji strained through the pain. Reimu looked back towards Noroiko, seeing the ruby-haired demon sending magic bullets towards her. The shrine maiden trainee rolled out of the way, escaping the deadly bullets. Reimu shot her own magic bullets at Noroiko, the bullets making contact with the demon, but not making as much damage as they did to her earlier. It was quite clear that they were less effective against her when she wasn't hit off guard.

"Stand still, you little brat!" Noroiko yelled, sending curse orbs flying towards Reimu. "I'll show you some of my strongest curses! A curse of endless misery! A curse of immeasurable pain! A curse of weak and aching bones! A curse of horrible lungs! A curse of ultimate bad luck and misfortune! A curse among curses; I'll show you the worst curses!"

Reimu managed to get a brief moment where she could hit back at Noroiko, the trainee using her link to the Yin-Yang Orb as she held her hand up in the air, summoning a small yin-yang of white and blue in her hand. Throwing the yin-yang at Noroiko, the summoned item made contact with the youkai's forehead, exploding as a sphere of holy energy that looked like the orb it came from.

The red-haired youkai was sent flying back from the attack, her back slamming against the trees. "How much does that lily pad in the Ever Frozen Lake cost?" Noroiko mumbled as she got back onto her two feet, unable to keep her balance as she was dazed. Reimu wasn't going to take any chances this time, the trainee using her connection with the Yin-Yang Orb to make the two replicas that it turned into to shoot danmaku at the youkai at rapid speeds. Noroiko was hit without a chance to block or escape, the youkai being taken down by the attack, letting out one last moan before exploding into magical energy that will inevitably reform back into her in a few minutes or so.

Reimu was in front of Genji, the trainee on her knees as she recited the incantation for removing curses. It was done clumsily; Reimu kept on forgetting the right words and kept on mixing them up, but in the end it had managed to work.

Genji let out a sigh of relief as the immense pain within him had subsided and disappeared altogether, the wound on his leg finally closing in seconds as the curse that was made to stopped his regenerative capabilities was finally purged from him. The old turtle stood back up on all fours, wobbling slightly as his recently healed leg still hurt a bit from reasons that were slightly outside of the curses that were placed on him, though that pain had also vanished, allowing Genji to stand fine again.

Reimu got back on Genji's shelled back, the turtle once again floating above the ground and transporting himself and Reimu through the forest towards Reimaden.

It all seemed fine, though a fear had etched itself into the back of Reimu's head. If Mima's minions are this strong, then how strong is the ghost herself? It actually felt like Reimu's heart had stopped in fear for a second there, that a feeling of wanting to run away from all this had grown in her.

But that fear was one that crawled back into whatever abyss that it came, because Reimu still knew that she would still fight for Gensokyo, because with the powers of the Yin-Yang Orbs or not, or whatever her motives and goals are, Mima is still a threat to Gensokyo.

And as the shrine maiden, even if she's only a trainee, Reimu will fight until the end to stop any threat that ever shows itself to Gensokyo.

It was that little piece of ideology that gave Reimu the bravery and determination to continue moving forward to stop Mima. And hopefully this time she will be stopped for good.

* * *

"Well, this is becoming worse than expected. Infinitely worse." Mima commented as she looked at the crystal orb with disgust, magical energy surrounding her like a miniature tornado as her anger was growing from the trainee's success and her minions' failures. "Seriously, she's already going through nearly half of my minions and she is barely defeated at all. What was I doing with my time throughout those months, wasting it working at a day care for pathetic youkai?! They're all worthless. I am Mima, the strongest magician to have ever existed; how dare they defile my name by claiming to have been trained by me?!"

"M... Mima...!" Marisa groaned as it felt like she was being squeezed - even crushed - by the magic power flowing from Mima is it tightened around her. "You're kind of crushing me with this... with this tight force of your power...!"

"I'm sorry, Marisa." Mima responded, calming down, her magic power no longer flaring like a whirlwind. Marisa was relieved from the disappearing of the magic power, no longer having her arms pressed against her body tightly as it was no longer wrapping around her like a snake. "Honestly, with you being my strongest minion and my protégé, you're the only one that I have even an iota of a belief that I can't afford to lose. Just as long as you don't fail me."

"Don't worry, Madam Mima." Marisa said. "I'll knock that clown out of the park. I'm not weak like the others, I won't ever fail you."

"You better not." Mima warned darkly, her jade eyes showing her apprentice that if she dares to fail, there will be consequences; consequences that she will be lucky to forget. That was enough to remind Marisa that even being on the good side of Mima didn't fully protect her from her rage, if the conditions for such were met.

* * *

Yumemi was still in the so-called ruins in Gensokyo, the true name of it being Probability Space Hypervessel. She stood in front of the glowing screen as it showed Reimu and Genji, still unaware that they were being watched, the Strawberry Bird managing to keep itself safe and hidden during the battle between Reimu and Noroiko by hiding in a tree. The red-haired professor kept on shifting her head from looking down at the notebook in her arms, scribbling in the information that was being collected from the aforementioned battle, to looking back up at the screen for any new data that was being found.

"Her ability to control curses is quite a unique and new one among our findings." Chiyuri spoke as she too was writing down in a notebook, much slower and neater than her professor, though far behind her as far as writing down the data was concerned. "The youkai, I mean. She was able to get the upper hand against them both, she could have probably even won if she was a better fighter."

"I care not for who won, I only care for the magic data that is collected." Yumemi responded, resuming in her scribbling down of the data she collected. "I can finally prove the existence of magic to the rest of the scientific community. If we manage to properly harness the power of magic and science, human civilization can advance exponentially. I'll become one of the most legendary names in science, among many other things."

There was suddenly a crash and a loud bang heard from within the darkness. Yumemi and Chiyuri turned their heads towards the darkness, the normal humans becoming alarmed as they heard what sound like glass shattering and wood breaking.

"MY BEAKERS AND CHAIRS!" Yumemi exclaimed in horror, the eighteen year old running to a light switch and flipping it, turning all the lights on. The lights had revealed the rest of the Probability Space Hypervessel, a rather boring example of tables, chairs (both the regular wooden ones and metal folding chairs), sheets of paper and lab notes and glass beakers that were either full with odd liquids or empty and clear. The two Outside World humans saw Ruukoto, the android maid sweeping the floor, unknowingly knocking over and breaking many items. "Ruukoto, _what_ are you doing?!"

"I'm sweeping. Chiyuri felt like this place was very dirty, so she asked me to clean up." The robot maid answered, unaware that she had caused Yumemi to glare at Chiyuri. "Oh my, what a mess~."

"Chiyuri, you idiot!" Yumemi yelled, whacking the blonde hard against the side of her head, causing a small lump to appear, though the sailor uniform-wearing woman wasn't hurt all to much. "Go stop Ruukoto before she destroys all of our valuable hard work!"

"Right away, Miss Yumemi~!" Chiyuri whined, running away from her livid professor; she was honestly in less danger by being with the reckless, nuclear powered android than Yumemi when she's angry. Especially after she had perfected the artificial magic.

Yumemi closed her eyes and massaged her temples, trying to calm down as she could hear the sounds of more items breaking apart and Chiyuri's whining from behind.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Ta-da, it's another chapter of _Maiden's Capriccio_. Apologies if the battle against Noroiko wasn't what you expected, it's a little hard for me to think of ways for her to use her power to manipulate/induce curses without it becoming an instant win for her. (though this whole thing about her manipulating curses is presumable as she just shoots the curse kanji in the original game). Besides, she's a midboss and nothing more than that in the canonical series, so she probably wouldn't be all that durable.**

 **There's also some liberties taken here to make the battles before Noroiko a little more interesting, since it is probably getting a little boring to just read 'Reimu shot down all of the enemies and moved on', so that happened.**

 **Anywho, here also sparks another appearance of Yumemi and Chiyuri... and they might not appear again until later on when Reimu defeats Mima; but who knows, maybe they'll appear again before that, a lot of this writing is honestly just made up on the spot. I'm basically a writer who improvises what he writes.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are welcomed and allowed. Bye~.**


	13. Last Samurai of the Forgotten Clan

Reimu and Genji continued to fly through The Woods as they flew above the path of chopped tree stumps, intent on heading to Reimaden.

"It's them, it's them. Shoot down the turtle and the little girl, especially the little girl!" A voice yelled from ahead, half closed eyeballs of red sclera and green skin flying out from the trees and bushes, tiny, bat-like, green wings attached to the side of their bodies (or eyeballs, same thing in the end). Shooting out singular, slow-moving magic bullets that were just a single white pellet from their pupils. Reimu and Genji felt unimpressed from the bullets and the creatures that shot them, especially as they weren't really even aimed at them.

"This is a joke." Reimu mumbled boredly as she destroyed the eyes with her ofuda.

"Crap, she beat The Eyes." The same voice from before said. "Send in the Fairy Squad!"

A total of five small fairies in purple dresses and small purple hats appeared in front of Genji and Reimu, wielding little wands with tiny, purple stars on the tips. "Lets show 'em the true power of fairies~!" One of the little girl-like creatures yelled, all of them pointing their wands at the duo. Lasers and tiny star danmaku came from the fairies, becoming more of a threat than the enemies that the maiden and turtle just shot down a few seconds ago. The fairies suddenly vanished, their magic power being sensed from behind Reimu. The trainee quickly turned around, throwing her ofuda straight at the fairies' faces. The winged creatures made annoyed sounds as the paper charms were against their face, picking them off.

Reimu was quick on her feet, using her gohei to destroy two of the fairies with a powerful whack right through their magical bodies, though the third fairy manage to escape; the wooden wand only grazing the hem of her skirt.

"Wha…! She defeated Amethyst and Alexandrite in one hit!" One of the fairies pointed out, a mixture of surprise and excitement in her eyes. Her comrades had the same expression in their eyes. "She's the real deal~! No wonders why Mima wants her so much."

"Be quite so I can shoot you!" Reimu said, throwing more ofuda at the fairies.

The fairies flew high in the air, shooting star danmaku and Reimu and Genji again. Genji flew forward, out of the way of the stars. The magic turtle then elevated himself and Reimu in the air, the shrine maiden trainee managing to shoot down the rest of the little squad.

"Oh, so you shot them down. No matter." The voice said again, a little bit of a laugh heard in the feminine voice. The image of what looked like a tall and purple-haired woman appeared within Reimu's peripherals for a second, so eerily translucent that it was like she barely even existed in the first place. There was suddenly a white line where the image had quickly moved across from, the white line turning into white pellets that flew towards Reimu and Genji. "You will never have a chance to beat me."

Reimu jumped off Genji and hopped along the tree stumps as she escaped the danmaku, the white pellets moving specifically for her. Genji flew in front of the pile of chopped tree stumps that Reimu was hopping on, the trainee jumping back on the guardian turtle.

"Just what was that attack?" Genji said as he looked around for the cause of the odd attack, spotting nothing. His black eyes then spotted a silhouette of a feminine shape from somewhere between the trees, the silhouette shifting along the trees, another one of those odd white lines appearing again and turning into white pellets.

"More demons, attack!" The same voice yelled, sending multiple demons that looked like little girls in dresses with odd features that had shown that they weren't human appearing from up ahead. They began shooting out danmaku towards the trainee and holy spirit, the latter flying so they could both dodge them as the former shot danmaku back at them. Reimu was breathing and out, her heart beating in her throat and ears as the enemy demons were defeated.

Reimu didn't know if Genji was also exhausted, or overcome by the power of his heart beating, but he continued to fly forward. The sky began to change; one second ago it was a bright day with the sun shining in the air in a blue, morning sky with little clouds, but in an instant it was suddenly night, though the sun was still in the air and glowing. And yet Reimu could see stars glittering in the night sky.

"What's with the sky, Gramps?" Reimu asked, still looking up at the sky. It was a lucky thing that there were no youkai or fairies or other minions of Mima attacking her and Genji right now; not even that voice that had commanded the attacks and used those odd danmaku. "It looks like it's night time, but the sun is still up, and it only daytime a few seconds ago."

"It means we're getting close to the World of Empty Dreams." Genji explained.

"'World of Empty Dreams'? That sounds rather sad and... nihilistic of a name." Reimu commented, sweat-dropping at such a name that held a high amount of hopelessness in it. "And aren't we meant to be going towards Reimaden? Why do we need to go to this World of Dreams?"

"Because the only way to enter Reimaden is _through_ the World of Empty Dreams." Genji explained, the ancient being noticing a pile of tree stumps up ahead in this eternally night area of Gensokyo, knowing that he was getting close to where the World of Empty Dreams is located. "The World of Empty Dreams is a dimension - a boundary - that exists between Gensokyo and Reimaden. There are possible ways to travel from Gensokyo to Reimaden without having to use the World of Empty Dreams, such as being the Gap Youkai, but otherwise that is your only possible way to enter Reimaden."

"Oh..." Reimu responded simply.

"There it is, the portal to the World of Empty Dreams~!" Genji said excitedly, the turtle slowing down in his flying as he and Reimu neared that dimension. "One of these stumps is the portal, we just have to find it."

"I'm afraid that will never happen." The same voice from earlier said. A woman suddenly appeared in front of Reimu and Genji; she was tall with long, purple hair that was mostly tied up into a ponytail. She was wearing red and white clothes that looked like they belonged to a male. She was also wielding a sword in one hand; it was very clear to Genji that she is meant to be a samurai. Her mouth was in a straight line, almost a frown. Her dark eyes were emotionless, showing nothing but a determination for whatever it was that she desired. The female samurai pointed her sword towards the trainee and turtle, keeping her cold and icy mask. "I shall have the Hakurei!"

 **Illusion-Cutting Samurai**

 **Meira**

Reimu blushed at the samurai. "O-oh my... I... I never thought it would be like this... And so soon." Reimu muttered, her face as red as a tomato and burning like it was being cooked. Meira raised an eyebrow in confusion to the maiden's odd reaction, though her cold mask had remained the same. "I mean, I'm still so young, and I'm not meant to marry until sometime after I have became a full shrine maiden."

"WHAT?!" Meira responded, keeping her impassive expression, though her eyes were enough of a sign that she was flabbergasted.

"Well, you proposed to me." Reimu answered casually, a blush still on her face. "I'm sorry that I can't marry you right now. I do believe that I may be growing feelings for you, but we have just met, it's too early in this relationship for us to become wife and wife right now. I'm sure if you wait until I'm older and a full shrine maiden, we can see what this relationship is like before we decide to marry."

"W-why would I marry you?!" Meira yelled, her entire face becoming an incredulous expression. "I'm a grown woman, you're a little girl, I can get in major trouble for doing something like that. I don't even care for you, I'm just doing this as the last remaining member of my clan so I can bring it back."

"But didn't you come here and say that you came for me?" Reimu asked.

"When I said Hakurei, I meant as in the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs, I'm going to bring you and those orbs to Madam Mima so she can gain the power to control them and become an invincible being." Meira explained, calming down from her anger and regaining her emotionless expression. "After I have given Mima what she wants, she'll revive my dead clan and make it the strongest samurai clan in the world."

"Oh, so you don't really care about me?" Reimu asked.

Meira just stared at Reimu silently, keeping her icy eyes. "No. Not at all." She answered plainly.

"Oh..." Reimu responded.

" _This is becoming an odd experience._ " Genji though, almost feeling like a third wheel as Reimu and Meira were ignoring him in favour for each other. " _I have seen many things during the battles against Mima, been in them as well, but I have never gone through something quite like this. I don't even know if this is a part of Mima's plan or not._ "

"Well, if there's nothing to keep you around for, guess I'll just defeat you~." Reimu said, pulling out her ofuda from her sleeves. "Don't be fooled by my age and body; I may be a trainee, but I have defeated everyone else that has ever gotten in my way."

"Well then, looks like your first defeat will also be your last." Meira said simply, keeping hold of her weapon as it remained pointing at the trainee. The samurai seemingly vanished, appearing in front of Reimu and Genji in an instant. Reimu's reflexes kicked in at top gear, the little girl managing to lower herself as Meira swing her sword, the little girl only having her hair cut instead of being decapitated. Even with her escape, Reimu wasn't out of harm's way as Meira kicked her in the stomach, sending the trainee flying off of Genji, bouncing along the ground and slamming her back against a large rock. Reimu grunted in pain, her back throbbing in pain and her spine almost feeling like it had shattered. Reimu had her eyes closed as she hissed through clenched teeth, the girl opening her purple eyes to see Meira smiling at her with a small, though slightly evil, smile. "Your final battle begins now."

* * *

Mima grinned as she looked at the crystal orb, the ghost feeling a certain feeling of catharsis as she watched the battle begin between her second or third strongest minion and the last remaining member of the Hakurei family. And oh how it was good catharsis, not only for defeating all her minions earlier and defeating her back in Jigoku, but for all of the Hakurei family members that have always gotten in Mima's way. Though there was a feeling that pulled the corners of Mima's lips back down, and Mima understood that feeling right away.

Even though she was getting catharsis from seeing one of her minions having the true edge over the shrine maiden, it was ruined slightly by the fact that _she_ wasn't the one who was beating up the trainee, the last member of that accused family of annoying shrine maidens. And, in a sense, that gave Mima a bit of a desire for Reimu to win and make it the Reimaden so she can get rid of the Hakurei family for once and for all. Mima shook her head from side to side with powerful force and high speeds.

Mima smirked at her thought, how ludicrous! She wants nothing more than to gain control of the Yin-Yang Orbs and get her revenge; she doesn't care how she would gain this power.

"Damn, Meira's a lot stronger and cooler than those losers Rika and Noroiko." Marisa commented as she too was watching the battle, her little body moving without control and even making punches at the air as the battle was filling her with adrenaline. Currently, Meira was whizzing across the field, creating white lines that turned into danmaku bullets with the tip of her blade. Reimu was trying to shoot danmaku at the older woman, managing to succeed in making contact, though it didn't seem like the danmaku was making much damage against the female samurai; clearly leagues above the likes of Rika and Noroiko. "Sheesh, poor little Hakurei Maiden doesn't stand a chance."

"Yes, it appears that the poor little girl has met her match." Mima commented, watching as Reimu hopped back on top of Genji, the turtle flying around. Reimu pressed her hand against one of the Yin-Yang Orb duplicates, summoning Sin, the red-haired priestess ghost shooting red lasers towards Meira with her two flat palms pressed towards the purple-haired samurai. Meira was surprised at first, but she quickly managed to regain control and run out of the way of the lasers, once again moving at speeds that were hard for the naked eye to follow. "However, you shouldn't underestimate her. I underestimated her at first and had received a painful whack to the head. Just because she's a little girl doesn't mean you can make a judgement of her strength, especially as you yourself are a little girl."

"Yeah, but the difference is that I have been trained by the greatest sorcerer of all time." Marisa argued with the ghost, looking away from the battle seen in the crystal ball. "All she has is an old turtle and a god that doesn't exist, she's no match for me."

"Well then, if Meira proves to be a disappointment like the others, maybe you'll get the chance to prove it." Mima responded, the ghost and apprentice resuming to watch the ongoing battle between Reimu and Meira.

* * *

"She's incredibly strong for a woman who doesn't show off much magical energy." Sin commented as she continued to shoot lasers towards Meira, the female samurai still managing to escape the attack with ease, die to her fast speeds. Meira summoned more white lines that turned into homing bullets with her sword as she moved around the small field of tree stumps like a vanishing image, the homing bullets aiming towards the Hakurei guardian instead of the trainee. "I'm sorry, Lady Reimu, but I must return to the Yin-Yang Orb."

Meira kept a serious and impassive expression throughout the entire battle, not even reacting as Sin vanished. The samurai was suddenly in front of Reimu, swing her sword down towards the maiden that was her enemy. Reimu tried to block the sharp blade with her gohei, the wooden wand managing to not only stop the attack, but also remain undamaged, even as Meira continued to push the sword down towards the purple-haired shrine maiden trainee.

Genji bit at Meira's leg, the samurai letting out a scream of pain and stopping her attack as she gripped at the area where Genji bit her. Reimu hit Meira at the side of her head, causing the older woman to fall down to her side.

"I'm sorry about all this, I hope it doesn't ruin any possible future relationships that we have." Reimu said as Meira got back up and ran away with her fast speed, though she remained underneath the eternally night sky where the stumps were located. "I'm sure that after all this is over, we can start working on our relationship more and learn how to live together."

"Didn't you acknowledge that she doesn't have feelings for you and that we must defeat her?" Genji muttered, a beat of sweat falling down the side of his head from how odd Reimu was acting because of the appearance of this woman. "You are far too young to begin going into romantic relationships, or to even think about them, especially as you are a Hakurei."

"But-."

"No buts, Reimu." Genji said sternly, the turtle and the trainee on his back forgetting about the samurai in front of them, who was watching the little dispute between them for reasons that she herself doesn't quite understand. "This is tradition that has existed for many years, you shouldn't ruin it, especially if you don't want to suffer the wrath of the Hakurei God. Besides, she's far too old for you, like she has said."

"Yeah, listen to the wise old turtle." Meira said.

"Oh... fine then, we'll settle this later." Reimu groaned, shooting danmaku at Meira. The female samurai ran away from the danmaku, using her fast speed to create the same type of bullets that she has made previously. Genji flew himself and Reimu out of the bullets' way. Meira glowered at the two, swinging her sword towards the two, multiple lines of danmaku shooting out from the tip of her sword, heading straight towards Reimu and Genji. The ancient turtle was taken by surprise of the bullets, the holy being and the trainee on him squeezing between the space between the bullets. "Whoa, she has done something different from before."

"Of course, I'm not a one-trick pony." Meira responded in a matter-of-fact voice. "I have trained intensely under Mima's eye, trying to perfect and evolve every technique that I have ever learnt. I will stop at nothing to bring back the mighty and prideful clan that I was born and raised in, I don't even care about sacrificing a little girl to a powerful ghost. I don't care about the other clans Mima will wipe out after she gains the power of the Yin-Yang Orb. I just want it all back, everyone back."

"This is not the way to bring back any lost clan that you were raised in." Genji said, giving Meira a stern glare. For once, Meira didn't have her usual mask of icy impassiveness. Instead, the female samurai looked at him with shocked eyes with a sense of hurt in them. "If your clan is prideful, then they wouldn't accept you sacrificing the life of a _child_ to bring it back. They wouldn't accept you having all other clans wiped out. If you don't want to dishonour this prideful clan, then you should revive it by starting it over again."

Meira felt hurt, clutching her chest as the turtle's words felt like deep stabs. A tear escaped to the side of Meira's eye, her blood beginning to boil with rage. "Shut up!" Meira yelled, hot tears flowing from her eyes, swinging her sword at Genji and Reimu rapidly, the bullets coming from the tip moving much faster and being in greater quantity.

"Uh, Genji, I think you hit her in the wrong area." Reimu said, gripping onto the side of Genji's shell, the aforementioned holy being flying at faster speeds than he had shown in the past, to fast for the trainee to stay on him by standing on him. At least Meira was standing still, so it was somewhat easier to hit her with her danmaku.

* * *

"Oh well, it looks like Meira has let her pride get the best of her, she's no longer fighting with the skill and grace that she used before. Looks like she's going to lose." Mima said, seemingly sitting down on her spectral tail, her arms crossed over her chest. "Those that let their pride get the best of them are unsuited to battle. If you become overcome by your pride in battle, then you don't deserve to win."

"Ah, looks like pride screwed another minion over." Marisa said, observing the continuing battle going on, even though it was now just Meira swinging danmaku towards Reimu and Genji in a blind, livid rage. Marisa was leaning over a floating broom, her elbows bent as she rested her face on her hands. The red-haired girl puffed up her cheeks and blew it out in annoyance. "No bigger scumbag than the prideful."

"The circle gets the square." Mima concurred hypocritically.

* * *

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!" Meira yelled as she continued to shoot bullets towards Reimu and Genji, blind and deaf to the world. Genji shot through the air as he avoided the little white dots of doom, Reimu continued to keep her hands tight against Genji's shell as she rode him, continuing to fire her danmaku at the other purple-haired female.

"I think you have mad her really, really, really, really mad!" Reimu yelled out, barely hearing her own voice over the sound of firing bullets and Meira's yelling. Reimu kept her hand on her hair with her gohei still in hand, using only the link between her and the Yin-Yang Orb to fire the danmaku. "She doesn't quite seem to be in control anymore."

"I can see that." Genji responded, sweat running down his rough brow, the amount of power that he was putting into his flying and the quick reactions he was making were becoming exhausting. "I was telling the truth, it seems that she is unwilling to believe it. She has let her emotions - her anger - get the best of her. Though, this could have put the battle greatly in our advantage."

"Because she's no longer keeping focus?" Reimu asked.

"Exactly." Genji responded. "Though it seems like it would be more effective if you used a more powerful attack. Are you willing to use another Fantasy Seal?"

"I don't think that is necessary." Reimu responded as Genji flew behind Meira, the samurai not taking notice of their presence as she was still blinded in rage. Reimu made the two duplicates of the Yin-Yang Orb flow together, turning back into the real Yin-Yang Orb. Reimu used her link to make the orb grow to a large size, the trainee proceeding to hold her gohei up high. "I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do this again, but I'm not too angry about it."

Reimu swing the Yin-Yang Orb at Meira, hitting her in the back of her head. Meira fell down to the ground, seemingly unconscious, her sword flying out of her hand. Reimu quickly ran to the sword, picking it up and throwing it even further away from Meira, in case if the samurai ends up waking up and tries to attack her again.

Speaking of which, Meira quickly began to groan as her body began to move, the woman slowing getting back up on her feet. Meira was rubbing the back of her head, obviously aching from the hard hit that she got without being prepared. Meira spotted Reimu, the samurai quickly growing angry at her. "You! You hit me in the back of the head with a big and powerful object!" Meira yelled at Reimu, pointing at the maiden.

"You were trying to kill me!" Reimu yelled back. "What if I mention this on our wedding day?"

"Oh for the love of the gods, I think that even the readers are getting tired of this recurring joke. And it's not like it's going to appear again in later chapters." Meira said in annoyance, rubbing her hand over her face. "And I wasn't going to kill you, I was going to bring you to Mima so _she_ can kill you. If I killed you then I would have gained the Hakurei powers, then Mima would be out for _my_ head. And as the last member of my samurai clan, I cannot afford to die before I revive it with more members."

"What is this forgotten clan of yours anyways?" Genji asked as the turtle floated beside Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee getting back on the creature as she still lacked any flying ability of her own.

"That doesn't matter to you, especially as you won't live long enough to use that information." Meira said, the samurai reaching down at her side, grabbing nothing. Meira's dark eyes had widened as she realised that she grabbed at nothing, the woman looking down at her side to see that what she was intending to grab was nowhere in sight. "What the- Where's my sword?!"

"I threw it away~!" Reimu responded happily.

Meira stiffened, slowly moving her eyes up from the ground to the trainee, her eyes showing seething anger. "So, you figured out how to make me powerless, don't you think so?" Meira said, twitching slightly in her anger. "Think that you've now won, haven't you?"

"Yes~." Reimu responded.

"I don't see how else you can beat us." Genji said.

"Well then, time for plan B." Meira said, reaching in for a secret pocket among her clothes. Meira pulled out six balls, three red and three purple. "These are magical balls that I was given by Mima. With these things, I can still fight without my sword."

Meira threw the balls around, the small items bouncing off invisible walls, the samurai having her fingers crossed as she hoped that they would hit her intended target.

Reimu and Genji were left unimpressed by the attack, both of them looking at the purple-haired minion with bored eyes. "She truly is defeated now, isn't she?" Reimu asked of Genji.

"Yeah..." The holy turtle responded. "Lady Reimu, I think that you should just shoot her down. This is honestly a little sad to watch."

The shrine maiden trainee complied to what the turtle-like being said, firing danmaku at Meira. The Yin-Yang Orb attack to the back of the head must have had a bigger effect on Meira than Reimu had expected, because soon the samurai feel down to the ground, the balls that she threw suddenly stopping in mid-air and falling down to the ground.

"I defeated her." Reimu said happily, a smile on her face. Reimu looked at Meira, the little girl tilting her head to the side as she saw Meira remaining still on the ground. "Uh oh, I think I killed her. I guess we'll have to bury the body now; it's the respectable thing to do."

"Euuuurghhhh…" Meira groaned as her body shook, the older woman slowly raising her head, looking at Reimu and Genji with one eye closed and the other only halfway open. "I'm not dead, child."

"Oh... Oh well~." Reimu responded, looking as cheery as ever. "Onto the World of Empty Dreams."

"Yeah, I guess there's no other reason to stay here." Genji said.

Meira felt offended by how quickly the two had forgotten about her, even though she doesn't really care about them. The grown woman got back up on her two feet, wobbling slightly before running away at high speeds, disappearing in the distance as the trainee and turtle watched.

"Oh, she left." Reimu said.

"It's pointless to run after her, he must move forward." Genji said as he hovered over one of the tree stumps with Reimu on him. The tree stump looked different than the others; instead of the usual flat top that the others had, this one looked hollowed out. And the inside was weird, looking like a weird tunnel of colours that kept on changing like an odd rainbow. It was easy for even Reimu to recognise this as the portal to the World of Empty Dreams. Genji flew into the portal within the tree stump, the turtle and Reimu heading even closer to the dastardly ghost that has been plaguing Gensokyo for far, far too long.

* * *

 **Author's Note: That settles the battle against Meira, of course with some humour of Reimu thinking that Meira wants to marry her. I don't know where the idea to have it that Meira is working for Mima so she can revive her dead clan, with her as the last member, but that was the idea I came up with.**

 **The idea of Reimu throwing away Meira's sword was thought up so I can have an explanation as to why the samurai would abandon her sword and rely on bouncy balls, 'cause really why would she rely on them otherwise? And yeah, there's a fourth wall break in this chapter, probably my first time writing one, really. It was kind of fun and exciting, but don't worry about there being an abundance or surplus of them, I'll be sure to not put too many of them in with too little space between the chapters.**

 **Another liberty in this fic is that the World of Fantasies is called the World of Empty Dreams. The reason for this is because the Dream World in _Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom_ looks more like a dream world than the one shown in _Story of Eastern Wonderland_. And since World of Empty Dreams is the name of the theme for the stage, I felt like it could fit more, considering the stage's design. Besides, World of Empty Dreams is a much cooler and better name.**

 **All reviews, even constructive criticism, are welcomed and accepted.**


	14. A Bet on Death

The first thing that Reimu noticed of the World of Empty Dreams was that it truly looked empty. And that it really did look like a world of dreams - in the context of it being a world of dreams. It looked more like an empty space with stars in the background, as all around the place. There was no ground as far as Reimu could see, though there were two rocky walls that floated in the air, both at Reimu's side; the trainee was honestly slightly worried that the two walls would suddenly move forward and crush her and Genji.

"This is the World of Empty Dreams, Reimu." Genji explained as he and Reimu flew forwards, deeper into the boundary between Gensokyo and Reimaden. "Don't worry about the stars and darkness; this isn't outer space, you can breathe in here."

"Well, that marks a second time. Never knew I would do something like this twice through my training. Do all shrine maiden trainees have to go into an outer space-like dimension with breathable space multiple times?" Reimu said, confusing Genji from how odd her words were. "Never mind, lets focus on defeating Mima. After I beat her, we can get her to rebuild the shrine."

"We might have to go through them before we fight with Mima." Genji said, the turtle noticing Bakebake flying towards him and Reimu. Quickly, the tongue-hanging ghosts began to shoot bullets at the two, all of them much stronger and much more focussed on shooting the duo than the ones that attacked at the shrine. Still, they all were destroyed in one shot.

"I thought we already beat Rika, why are her creations here?" Reimu said, shooting down the oncoming artificial ghosts; they were definitely artificial as neither Reimu or Genji could feel any supernatural energies coming from them.

"Maybe Mima had some left over, or maybe Rika left some here." Genji answered. "Or it could be possible that Mima has managed to copy or mimic Rika's technique of creating fake Bakebake."

"Oh well, they're still easy to shoot down~." Reimu said, the Bakebake being destroyed easily. A large line of transparent, outlined yin-yang had spun around through the air, shooting white bullets at Reimu and Genji like the Bakebake had. They weren't any much more durable than the Bakebake, but they were much faster, making them a bit of a difficulty to shoot down. "Jeez, these things are getting more annoying than dangerous. At least they're not something like Noroiko or Meira."

"Where'd you even find out their names?" Genji asked.

"Character titles." Reimu answered.

There were two red spheres on the walls, each on one respective wall. They both had a thin, grey cross in the centre of their sphere bodies. They had a strange grey material around them, forming like legs with horns, red markings on one side and black markings on the other side. Their legs were like spider legs, sticking to the floating walls that were in the World of Empty Dreams. They began to shoot bullets from their centres, releasing them as huge waves as they crawled along their respective walls, towards the trainee and turtle.

Reimu fired bullets at the dot-like creatures, the same creatures being able to durate her danmaku as they came closer to her. They soon passed by the duo, causing Reimu to become confused, the purple-haired maiden turning to see them still crawling. The both suddenly jumped from their own walls to the other's, this time crawling towards Reimu and Genji again, releasing waves of danmaku once again.

This cycle of theirs continued, with Reimu still shooting them with her danmaku, causing them to crack up like they were going to break apart. The two dot-like creatures then jumped at Reimu and Genji, the flying turtle managing to reflex fast, flying himself and Reimu out of the way before they could grab hold onto either him or her. The two creature exploded, intending to hurt Reimu with a self-destruct attack before she could defeat them.

More of those outlined yin-yang flew towards Reimu and Genji, some of which were of a red outline instead of a white one. The strange thing about the red outline ones was that they didn't fire any bullets, nor did they move in any directions that were complicated, mostly just straight forward. Reimu and Genji ignored those ones in favour for the white outline ones, being no threat to the duo whatsoever.

More of the red yin-yang then suddenly began to fly forward, like an army of them. They still didn't fire any danmaku whatsoever, like it was outside of their capabilities, and continued to just simply move forward without trying to go near Reimu or Genji in the slightest. Reimu had fired danmaku at the red yin-yang, but the bullets failed to do anything to the yin-yang.

"What are these odd yin-yang?" Reimu asked.

"I don't know." Genji answered, flying himself and Reimu through the spaces between the odd yin-yang. "These might be corrupted yin-yang, or simply another spell cast by Mima. Whatever these yin-yang are, they appear to be indestructible. It is pointless to fire danmaku at them, not that they're a real threat."

* * *

Mima squinted her eyes at Reimu and Genji as she looked at them through the crystal balls, the spectre keeping a tight grip on her sceptre. "Those two are getting annoyingly close." The ghost said, raising her staff towards an area in the darkness, waving it around, the crescent moon on the end glowing a golden colour as magic was conducted into it. A smirk grew on Mima's face as she cast her spell. "This trick ought to slow them down."

* * *

Dark purple magic circles appeared in the distance from where Reimu and Genji were, both of them being surprised by the sight they saw. Even Genji hadn't seen anything like this before. Giant, purple spheres flew out from the magic circles, shooting towards the duo.

"What is with these?" Reimu asked as Genji flew her and him out of the way as more and more of those spheres flew towards them as the magic circle continued to summon them. "Are these a spell that Mima has casted?"

"Most likely. I have never seen anything like this before; Mima always made sure that she would never show all of her tricks to anyone, so she would always have a trick up her spectral sleeve." Genji responded, continuing to fly away from the odd balls. It was becoming hard as more and more of them came after the turtle and trainee, slowly catching up to them with growing speed. "Lady Reimu, I have no idea how to counter against these spheres. We're going to have to think of something to get rid of them, and we're going to have to think of something fast."

Reimu bit her bottom lip as she tried to think of something to get rid of the purple spheres, though it was hard to think when there is a high possibility that these spheres could kill her in one hit, which really wasn't help by how quickly they were catching up.

This Reimu had moved to her first instinct: to shoot at the problem. Reimu fired danmaku at the purple spheres, the aforementioned attacks being destroyed as they made contact with Reimu's holy bullets.

Genji widened his eyes as he saw Reimu destroy the spheres, the maiden continuing until every last one of them was destroyed. Genji looked up at Reimu, a proud smile on his face. "You did it Reimu, you figured out how to get rid of the bullets." The turtle-like entity said, his voice filled with as much pride as his face. The turtle looked back towards where the entrance to Reimaden was located, his eyes widening as he saw more magic circles appear, firing off even more of those purple spheres. "Uh oh, Reimu you're going to have to fire even more bullets, because even more of the spheres are coming towards us!"

"Right, right." Reimu responded, using the Yin-Yang Orb to destroy the purple spheres by shooting danmaku out of the holy item duplicates. More and more of the purple spheres began to appear, moving at faster speeds as they came in a greater quantity. The spheres began to come very, very close as Reimu shot them down; too close for comfort. Reimu was beginning to sweat as the spheres were only inches away from her and Genji as she shot them down. Even though it only took a single bullet to get rid of each of them respectively, and they were about as big as her and Genji combined, making them easy targets, they were still coming very uncomfortably close. The spheres had thankfully stopped as Reimu manged to shoot the last of them into itsy-bitsy pieces, the magic circles that summoned them having thankfully disappeared as well. Reimu and Genji let out a sigh of relief. "That was too close."

"I concur, Lady Reimu." Genji said, flying forward.

* * *

"Damn, those two just don't give up." Marisa grumbled, the little girl's brow furrowed in annoyance. The redhead sighed, snapping her fingers and standing up. The broom that Marisa was leaning on began to move, appearing just bellow her but. The protégé sat down on the broom, the magic (?) item levitating her into the air. "Guess they're gonna enter Reimaden, might as well head to the entrance and show them our invincible magical power."

Marisa's broom began to fly off into the darkness with her on top of it. The magic broom then came to a complete halt, confusing the girl as she didn't command it to stop. "Not be so hasty, Marisa." Mima said, the ghost pointing at the broom Marisa was floating on. It was clear that it was now Mima controlling the broom, after all her power and skill in magic was still on an entirely different level than Marisa's. The aforementioned witch noticed an evil smile on Mima's face. "I have already guarded the gates of Reimaden with my own, special bodyguards."

"Bodyguards?" Marisa asked, her broom moving backwards until she was beside Mima again. Whenever this was Marisa's doing or Mima's was unknown. "But I thought that everyone that was worth remembering was defeated by Eggplant over there. Everyone except for me, of course."

"Well I have been working on something secret while training you and everyone else; something as a just in case if that trainee did manage to get to the World of Empty Dreams." The ghost explained, her smile only widening further. "And due to some special and specific things I have put into these bodyguards, this won't be a battle that she can easily overcome."

"Oh really?" Marisa asked, only getting a silent nod in response as her master continued to look at the crystal ball the showed the trainee and turtle. "And what're they like?"

"Just watch and find out, my dear. Watch and find out." Mima simply responded.

* * *

"We are closing in on the entrance to Reimaden, Lady Reimu." Genji said, the turtle and the maiden escaping from between the two floating walls. "We should be able to enter Rei- What is that?"

Genji stopped as he saw a giant, grey wall blocking the rift between Reimaden and the World of Empty Dreams, with five mysterious grey spheres on small pedestals with red wriggly lines around them, with small squares carved into the wall, many tiny ones near the top.

 **Guards That Pierce even the Bravest of Human Hearts**

 **Five Magic Stones**

"What are...?" Genji started.

"G... Gramps...!" Reimu whimpered, the shrine maiden trainee having fallen down of her feet in fear and gripping at Genji's shell, shaking as she whimpered in fear. "I... I'm scared."

"What?!" Genji said in pure, incredulous surprise.

* * *

Marisa raised an eyebrow, confused as to why the purple-haired shrine maiden trainee was suddenly whimpering in fear of the unintimidating orbs. "Hey Mima, why is Eggplant suddenly afraid?" Marisa asked, looking at her green-haired master. "They're just a bunch of stones."

"True, true, Marisa. You are very right, however if you were there with her, you would be whimpering in fear as well." Mima responded, the ghost not taking her eyes off of the crystal ball. "For you see, those stones there are Lacrima: crystals infused with magical energy. These particular Lacrima are a hybrid of such things; Lacrima that can operate magical devices and Fear Lacrima."

"What is a 'Fear Lacrima'?" Marisa asked.

"A Fear Lacrima is a special type of Lacrima that can put fear into the hearts of humans and animals that are in a specific radius. Sadly though, their effect doesn't work on magical creatures like Genji, so that old turtle is unaffected and confused as to why Reimu is afraid." Mima answered, at first scowling at the image of she saw of Genji being completely unaffected, however that scowl disappeared as she smirked again. "Oh well, it doesn't matter too much. The Hakurei Maiden is still stuck whimpering in fear, so she should still lose and die. With that done, I can finally get my revenge on humanity and then proceed to rule over all."

"Ah, I see." Marisa said as she looked back at the crystal ball, smirking. "It's gonna be fun to see that little brat die."

* * *

"Lady Reimu, what is wrong?" Genji asked, sweating as Reimu wasn't staying still, greatly on the risk of standing up and falling into the void beneath. That would probably be fatal, considering that Reimu can't fly, unless Genji is fast enough to catch her, but still. "They're just stones. You've seen many stones back at the shrine, and I know you've seen things that are far more terrifying than these. So why are you so scared?"

"I-I don't know why." Reimu stuttered out in response, still gripping at the edges of Genji's shell. "I... I just f-f-feel so scared as I look at them. It l-like they are going to kill o-or eat me."

Genji's confusion had only increased at Reimu's odd explanation, the turtle looking back at the five stones. " _These stones must be infused with some sort of fear-inducing magic. I'm a being of pure holy energy, so they can't affect me, but Lady Reimu isn't so lucky. They're going to have to be destroyed for their effect to no longer work. But I can't attack, that wasn't one of the reasons for my creation. Only Lady Reimu can attack them, but she is too afraid to even stay still because of the magic's effect. I'm going to have to make her bravery overcome the magic._ " Genji thought, the turtle opening his mouth as he began speaking. "Lady Reimu, I think that these stones are making you so afraid of them because of magic. They are nothing to be afraid of, they're just making you scared. You're stronger than their magic - your bravery is stronger than their magic. You must overcome this fear and fight them!"

"O-okay." Reimu whimpered out, slowly standing back up and (thankfully) not falling off into the void beneath. She was still shaking slightly, like she just got out into the cold weather whilst covered in water, but it was still an improvement compared to what the Stones were doing to her earlier. The second and fourth Stone had turned into a light purple colour, firing the usual white danmaku bullets towards Reimu and Genji. Still being affected by the Stones' fear magic, Reimu let out a scream as the bullets were flying towards her.

"Do not let their magic get the best of you!" Genji said as he flew around, dodging the bullets, having to be careful with his flying to not cause Reimu to panic. "You've faced bullets that are far more terrifying than these, fight back!"

Reimu swallowed the fear that the Stones were forcing into her, the trainee firing back at them. Reimu's danmaku had destroyed one of the light purple Stones at a surprisingly quick speed, causing the fear magic that was affecting Reimu to weaken. The other light purple Stone had seemingly noticed its fellow's demise, ceasing from firing its waves of white danmaku and instead shooting a line of giant red balls right at the duo. Reimu had thankfully didn't go into another fit of fear, the maiden continuing to fire danmaku at the small orb until it too was shortly destroyed by the attack.

Once again the magic that was affecting Reimu had became weaker, allowing her to not feel so afraid anymore. The first and fifth of the Stones had turned a scarlet colour, each summoning six large, green balls respectively that homed in on the turtle and trainee. Reimu fired danmaku at one of the scarlet Stones with more vigour than before, no longer needing Genji's encouragement to fight against these mysterious objects.

One of the scarlet Stones broke apart as Reimu continued to fire danmaku at it, the other increasing in both the speed and quantity of the homing attack that it was using. It was a little more difficult than the last one, though it was still rather easy to destroy.

The strange squares within the wall suddenly opened, revealing little circular holes within them, the last remaining grey orb turning an icy blue colour with an image of what looks like a mountain within it. Red lasers began to shoot out of the circle holes, the last remaining magic stone releasing an intricate wave of white danmaku. Genji began to fly out of the way of the lasers, seemingly aiming specifically at them. Though that would come with reason.

Large, green bullets began to shoot out from the pedestals from where the other stones once were, flying into the air and falling down, the lasers continuing to escape from the now uncovered holes, the last remaining Lacrima continuing to shoot out the standard white bullets.

Suddenly all of the bullets had stopped, the holes where the lasers had came from becoming covered once again. A cold energy came from the last remaining stone, buzzsaws made of ice appearing around it and flying towards the holy duo.

"What in...?!" Genji muttered out before flying away from the following ice attacks, the turtle managing to out run them, unlike with the purple spheres. "This an attack that is most unexpected."

"I'll try firing at them." Reimu said, the trainee shooting danmaku and ofuda at the icicle attacks. The buzzsaw attacks began to break apart after being hit by a few bullets, though Reimu and Genji's victory was short lived as the wall that the last remaining Stone was on began to shoot lasers once again. "Jeez, this thing doesn't let us rest. I'm still kind of scared of it, though."

* * *

Mima laughed as she watched the fight against the shrine maiden trainee from within the dark area of Reimaden, enjoying the battle she was watching. "What a foolhardy pair of fools, obviously they didn't know that the more of those Lacrima that they destroyed, the more magic energy that there was transferred to the remaining ones." Mima said as she watched Genji avoid giant icicles that were being summoned in the sky, the turtle doing it for his own and Reimu's sake.

"Heh, it's fun to watch them like this." Marisa commented, snickering as the danmaku and ofuda that Reimu was shooting towards the last remaining Stone was barely even damaging the sphere in the slightest. The last stone glowed, creating four more ice replicas of the other Stones that were destroyed, all five of the Stones firing lines of white danmaku at the turtle and trainee duo. "That last ball is filled with a whole sorts of surprises. I think I'll learn to steal new tricks in the future. Ha, I quite like the idea of stealing all together."

" _Sheesh, my protégé is aspiring to become a lowly thief instead of a powerful tyrant, like me._ " Mima thought as she looked at her red-haired protégé, the ghost thinking rather disappointedly. " _Oh well, I am an eternal ghost. I need only myself to continue on my legacy._ "

* * *

All five of the Stones, both the real one and the four replicas, shot out even larger waves of larger bullets, creating a claustrophobically small space of safety for Reimu and Genji. Reimu continued to fire danmaku at the last remaining of the Stones, an idea coming to the little girl's head. Reimu threw ofuda towards the ice replicas of the four replicas, the replicas breaking apart into tiny pieces after a short number of times of getting hit by the paper charms.

The open holes within the wall that blocked the way to Reimaden began to shoot their thin, white lasers once again, firing in a specific pattern that forced Genji to fly out of the way for Reimu to continue firing danmaku at the main Stone, lest he wishes for himself and Reimu to have a hole shot through them. The lasers had still managed to graze at Reimu, burning the sides of her kimono and hakama, destroying a piece of her ribbon and causing her left sidelock to burn off.

"I'm getting really tired of this Lacrima!" Reimu yelled as the Stone summoned more icy buzzsaws and flew them towards her. The buzzsaws were coming at a faster speed than the last, aiming low towards Reimu's feet, towards her ankles, something which Genji quickly caught on to.

"Lady Reimu, you're going to have to jump." The holy turtle yelled to the trainee on his back. "Those... saucers are too fast for me to outfly, and they're aiming low for your ankles. You're going to need to jump in a few seconds."

"Okay." Reimu responded, the trainee focussing on the odd icy attacks that were flying towards her. Bending her legs, Reimu jumped high into the air, her feet managing to go above the ice attacks, landing back on Genji's shell.

The last remaining began to summon more of the same ice attack while the lasers continued to shoot out. Reimu and Genji were starting to become slightly overwhelmed from all of the attacks they had to evade, the former firing danmaku at the remaining Lacrima while the latter flew out of the way of the attacks that the persistent magical item sent their way. It was like both sides were giving it their all because they knew that if they were to let their guard down for even a second, they would lose this battle.

And for all, even the magic ball - an item that isn't really alive - this battle would end with the death of the loser.

Sweat was running down Reimu's brow as she continued to fight on, her bravery managing to overpower the fear-inducing magic of the Lacrima, the same magic thankfully not being one of the magics that was passed onto the last Stone - the only magic that weakened with every Stone destroyed. Reimu's purple eyes began to notice something appearing on the Stone: a crack; zig-zags that spread around the sphere from a single point, the image of the mountain within the Stone beginning to fade as the invisible energy that was known as the ether began to leak for the round item.

"Gramps, look!" Reimu said cheerfully as the attacks coming from the last Magic Stone began to weaken immensely; the ice attacks breaking apart and stopping all together, the lasers ceasing to fire. The last of the Magic Stones was covered entirely in cracks, only holding together like it had some will of its own; a will that it was using to keep itself together. Nevertheless, it was futile, the sphere breaking into pieces - the ether fuelling it being released back into the air.

The wall fell down, being absorbed into the abyss below, revealing the rift that existed between the World of Empty Dreams and Reimaden. Reimu could see the terrain of Reimaden: it looked a lot like Gensokyo, having green grass and trees, with what looked like the silhouette of a mountain in the distance. The only real difference between Reimaden and Gensokyo, as far as Reimu was certain, was that it had a dark blue sky and an orange, sun-like object glowing in the air, with a black core within the orange glow.

"Wow...!" Reimu breathed. "It looks a lot like Gensokyo."

"I never said that Reimaden looked like anything new or special." Genji responded, still floating in front of the portal. "Now is not the time to talk about the similarities between Gensokyo and Reimaden. Lady Reimu, this might be the biggest, hardest, most life-threatening battle that you could ever face. Make no mistake, not only is Mima immensely powerful, but taking the lives of both shrine maidens and little children have became an old hat for her. If it wasn't for the fact that the Hakurei power over the Yin-Yang Orbs cannot pass over onto those without the Hakurei powers only if there are no Hakureis left, she would already be wielding the items and achieving her goals. You're duty as a Hakurei shrine maiden, even as a trainee, may be onerous overall, but this time the pressuring weight will be heavier than ever before. If you fail, it's over for everyone. We must fight with all that we have."

"Okay." Reimu responded seriously, a blush of embarrassment appearing on her little face as Genji began to enter Reimaden with her on his back. "Is it wrong that I still think those Stones were kinda scary?"

* * *

"Well, looks like there is no point in letting the pawns fight for us. If you want something done, you have to do it yourself." Mima said, the ghost using her immense magic powers to open a little hole in the darkness, showing an area in Reimaden. "Come on Marisa, it's time for you to show that trainee how much stronger than her you are."

"Hee hee hee, I'm going to enjoy showing Eggplant how superior I am to her." Marisa said as she floated through the hole on her broomstick, giddy as can be. "Poor little vegetable head doesn't stand a chance against me."

* * *

 **Author's Note: There goes the battle against the Five Magic Stones. Amazing that ZUN had resorted to that by the second game, but oh well he created the amazing phenomena that is Touhou, so hey that's still that. It was quite easy to make the Five Stones my own characters, since they're like the characters that are exclusive to Highly Responsive to Prayers; basically a canvas to work with.**

 **And yeah I decided to make them a refence to Fairy Tail... even though Story of Eastern Wonderland had already for like nearly a decade before that series began. I guess I just wanted to put in a reference *shrug*. Though even then I took some liberties with what a Lacrima is, to an extent. I honestly made it that the Stones have a magic that induces fear into humans to make sense of the fact that Reimu was afraid of them in the game (even though the last game featured her going to Hell (or at least basically Hell) and fighting an Angel of Death, respectively.**

 **You can also tell that I have decided to take some liberties with Reimaden, as it looks a lot different in this fic than it does in the original game. There's not really much of an importance behind that.**

 **Also, today marks the one month anniversary of this story.**

 **All reviews, even constructive criticism, are welcomed and appreciated.**

* * *

A mechanical bird flew through the empty space of the World of Empty Dreams, its camera head recording and picking up all of the data being collected. Or lack thereof.

"Hmm, doesn't seem to be much magical data in this place on its own." Yumemi said, looking at the screen in disappointment as the Strawberry Bird picked up the lowest amount of data on magic since she and Chiyuri came to Gensokyo a few months ago. "This world is so unnatural, yet even this more natural world that we are in right now shows more readings on magical energy naturally. How disappointing."

"Well at least we caught some data from that battle those two had against those magical stones." Chiyuri said, also looking at the screen, though she didn't look so happy herself. "But yeah, you'd think a place like this would have magic readings that are off the chart. So lame!"

"Yes, indeed." Yumemi said, unwrapping a strawberry-filled snack, throwing the wrapper into a bin, the young professor proceeding to eat the snack. "Send the Strawberry Bird into this Maiden dimension place, there's nothing of real value in here."

Chiyuri nodded, the student tapping away at buttons bellow the keyboard, controlling the robot bird that was monitoring all of the magic data.

" _Soon they will see. They will_ all _see._ " Yumemi thought, taking another bite of her snack. " _After all the hard work that I put in to becoming a protégé of science, to prove the existence of magic, it will all pay off. With the data, video and photos that I have collected throughout these months, as well as my own artificial magic, the community will finally believe me. And if even_ that _overwhelming evidence isn't enough for those stuck-up snobs to believe me, then the live subjects that I'll take back with me will definitely be enough._ "


	15. Love-Coloured Magic

Reimu and Genji flew in through Reimaden, passing by the many trees. Instantly they were encountered by multiple spheres with singular eyes in what could be considered as their centre, shooting danmaku from those same singular eyes. Reimu countered the sphere creatures with her own danmaku, the creatures being destroyed by the attacks as Genji dodged the bullets for the duo. The ground in front of Reimu and Genji began to shake as the spheres creatures were defeated, plant-like creatures coming out of the ground.

They looked like tree stumps, with multiple roots that were like spider-like legs at the bottom, long twigs at their sides that were like arms, open mouths and completely yellow eyes. They all also had a flower on the top of their stump bodies, each one different and depending on who it belonged to.

The plant creatures growled as they ran towards the two, however they were easily defeated by Reimu as well.

Spinning creatures that were like wind wheels spun by, shooting bullets as they raced along the landscape of Reimaden, their fast projectiles being narrowly dodged as Reimu shot back, hitting and destroying them quickly. Creatures that were like a green blob flew in the air, having little green antennae on the tops of their heads, shooting green lasers from between the antennae. The lasers managed to graze at Reimu, but they still didn't hurt or damage her, the shrine maiden trainee using her ofuda to defeat them easily.

A vast crowd of bats and more of these green creatures flew towards Reimu, shooting red bullets and green lasers respectively at her. Genji flew himself and Reimu out of the way while the trainee continued to focus on the shooting down of the enemies.

"Fear not, my fellow minions of Mima." A light voice said, the woman that it came from appearing. She was wearing a blue dress and had purple hair in a ponytail, angelic wings coming from her back. Considering everything that has happened as of late, and even the existence of Gensokyo in of itself, she probably is an angel. Her arms were outstretched, an expression like that of a warrior of justice on her face. "I, the great Matenshi, shall vanquish the evil shrine maiden."

 **Angel-Mimicking Youkai**

 **Matenshi**

"Begone, sinner!" Matenshi yelled, the angel-like youkai shooting beams of pure light at Reimu and Genji. The lucky thing was that, due to this youkai being weak, the lasers took time to properly appear, though the outline for their appearance was still there, giving the duo enough time to dodge the lasers before they appeared. Reimu was quick to shoot danmaku at Matenshi, the blue dress-wearing youkai being able to endure more than one bullet, unlike the other youkai. Matenshi groaned and growled, shooting white danmaku from her hands towards the trainee and turtle. "Justice will not lose."

Matenshi was defeated shortly after she finished her sentence, exploding in to magic energy.

More bats and wind wheel-like creature flew towards the duo, shooting bullets that they dodged. luminescent, blue fireballs flew towards the two, not firing bullets and being destroyed quickly.

"Fear not, I have returned." Matenshi said as she reappeared, once again being defeated in seconds.

A crimson magic seal had activated as Genji flew above it, the holy creature becoming alerted as soon as he saw the seal glow from beneath him. Fire was beginning to appear in the centre of the seal, Genji increased his speed as the same fire shot up in the air, a pillar of fire that reached into the skies of Reimaden. The fire managed to singe Genji's tail, but it didn't damage Reimu. That was most important in the turtle's eyes; Reimu is a human and can only live once, Genji however can die multiple times and revive because he is a spiritual being.

Besides, the legacy of the Hakurei family and the fate of Gensokyo sit on Reimu's shoulders; her survival is of his highest importance.

"Ah, Gramps, your tail's on fire!" Reimu yelled, the trainee swatting away the small flame that resided on the holy animal's tail. As Reimu was facing away from where she and Genji were going, more magic circles appeared from where they were going. Fast, rocket-shaped magic bullets shot towards Reimu and Genji, the turtle-like entity having to be fast and fly both of them out of the way. Reimu wasn't prepared for Genji's quick action, or for the magic attack. The purple-haired woman had gripped at Genji's shell as he suddenly moved at high speeds unpredictably, her heart beating wildly in her chest. "W-w-what's going ooooooooooon?"

"Mima sent a magic attack towards us." Genji explained as he dodged all of the rocket-shaped attacks, slowing down and allowing Reimu to regain her proper position. "We must be on much more alert, Lady Reimu. I can feel Mima's magical power in the air, she's close and she won't hesitate for anything sneaky and underhanded. I know my tail was on fire, but I am an entity who can take that. My tail and body will be fine, even with the fire. I am touched that you would fear for me, but Mima is the one that you must focus on the most."

"Gee, are you warning her about me or setting up a date between me and her?" A familiar female voice asked. Reimu and Genji looked at where the voice came from, seeing Mima again. She looked as usual as far as Genji was concerned about her, but Reimu was surprised by her now green eyes, her dress with a blue, light blue and green colour with odd symbols on it, as well as the sceptre with a crescent moon end and the wings that were now on her back. Mima put on an innocent smile, like that of a friend or relative that hasn't seen her in a while, though Reimu knew it was fake. "Hello there, Reimu, sweetheart. It has been so long and I'm happy that we can see each other in the flesh again. Though, for me it is in the ectoplasm."

 **A Spirit that left Fate and Reality for the Dream of Eternity**

 **Mima**

"Can it, Mima. I know you sent that woman to attack my shrine and I know that you got those other people to kill me." Reimu said, pointing her gohei at the green-haired ghost. "Give up now or I'll beat you until you beg me for mercy."

"Well, you're quite the evil child yourself, aren't you?" Mima muttered under her breath, the ghost clearing her throat (would it even matter in this existence that she exists in?), regaining her composure. "Sorry, hon, but if you want to face me than you're going to have to survive against Marisa first. In other words, you won't be able to live to face me."

"Who is this Marisa?" Reimu asked, looking somewhat annoyed. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. I'll defeat her, like how I'll defeat you."

"Marisa is my strongest minion and my protégé of magic." Mima explained, looking prideful, her smile full of pride turning into an evil grin. "And she'll be the one to bring you to the edge of your demise! Okay, Marisa, time to reveal yourself."

A little girl on a magic broom with a large flower growing from it appeared, suddenly dropping from the sky, her broom stopping her fall, hovering her above the ground. She was young, around Reimu's age, having red hair and a purple hat and witch outfit. She made a face that was meant to look evil, like Mima's, but it looked a little cute on her young face, especially as it mostly looked like an imitation.

 **A Maiden Made of Red Fantasies**

 **Marisa Kirisame**

"Hello, Eggplant. I'm Marisa Kirisame, just your ordinary young witch." Marisa said. "Well, the truth is that I'm a normal human. But with my desire to become magical, as well as my natural skill in learning magic, Madam Mima herself, the greatest witch to have ever lived, I have gained magic and risen to a level of power that you can only dream of. Now prepare, for after this battle ends, so will your life, and then Mima can gain her vengeance on all of humanity. Gaze on my radiant and marvellous magical might before it all ends in an instant. I will not fail you, Madam Mima!"

Reimu just stood still and looked at Mima and Marisa silently, the girl and ghost hovering above the ground in front of her. "My name is Reimu, not Eggplant. Who even is Eggplant, and why do they have that name? Do they looked like me?" Reimu responded. Marisa and Mima were left frozen still by the shrine maiden trainee's response, flabbergasted. "And you're a human as well, aren't you? Mima will destroy you to when she gets her revenge on humanity, so why are you helping?"

"I neve said that I'm going to destroy humanity, at least not all of it. I'm just going to destroy most of humanity and enslave the ones that I leave alive." Mima said, managing to heal from being left flabbergasted from the maiden's original response. "And if Marisa doesn't fail me, she will be exempted from suffering the same vengeance that the rest of humanity will receive. Only if she doesn't fail me. Don't fail me, Marisa."

"I won't, Mima." Marisa responded, a smile on her face. Mima teleported, the ghost appearing on a rock that was only a few feet away, sitting there with her arms crossed over her chest, a smirk on her face. Marisa's happy smile turned evil, the little girl raising her wand into the air, waving it around with tiny purple stars coming from the big one on the end of the wand. Four orbs appeared from the wand, being green, blue, red and purple respectively.

The orbs spun around the girl, having thin, purple lines connecting them. The orbs shoot out white bullets from their sphere bodies as Marisa shoot multiple purple, star-shaped danmaku from her wand, the danmaku coming from the wand being aimed straight at the trainee and turtle duo.

Genji flew up high in the air in an attempt to avoid the danmaku, though it was quickly proven pointless; not only was Marisa keeping her aim on the duo, but the danmaku coming from the orbs was shooting in all directions. If Genji had any teeth, he would grit them in annoyance, the turtle opting to fly behind Marisa so Reimu could attack her easily. Marisa, however, had noticed that Genji was flying towards the peripherals of her vision at fast speeds that were surprising for a turtle, the gears in her little head turning as she quickly figured out the purpose of his idea.

The magician smirk, making a small wave of her wand to change how the orbs around her operated. Genji and Reimu appeared behind Marisa, the turtle flying both of them towards her, however they were forced back as the four orbs that spun around Marisa had increased their speed and radius, still shooting out their danmaku. Reimu tried to shoot danmaku at Marisa, but the broom-riding witch fly out of the way as soon as the holy bullets got near her.

"Nice try, Eggplant." Marisa smirked, waving her wand around again as she prepared to cast another spell, the orbs spinning around her slowing down and surrounding her again. "Shoot and I'll move, in a flash."

"I already told you, I'm not Eggplant." Reimu said, seemingly more annoyed by the name that Marisa was referring her to as, instead of the fact that she couldn't land a hit on her. "If you have any problems with this Eggplant person, then you should sort them out with her, not me. I don't care if I look like her, I presume, I'm not Eggplant so I shouldn't be used to sort out your problems with her!"

Marisa was silent as she looked at Reimu with a blank face before smirking. " _Wow, this girl ain't gonna get it until latter, ain't she?_ " The witch mentally asked herself rhetorically, pointing her magic wand at Genji and Reimu. A fireball shot out of Marisa's wand, being fast enough the hit Genji square in the face before he could react. The fireball was also strong enough to knock Genji over; while the turtle had remained in the air as he spun around, Reimu was still knocked off the turtle, the trainee landing on the hard ground, even if the fall was softened by the grass. "Looks like you're off your ride, Eggplant."

Before Reimu could remind Marisa, yet again, that she isn't this Eggplant person, who seems to be her look-alike, considering that she keeps on confusing the two of them, the redhead began to shoot more fireballs towards the trainee. Reimu ran away from the fireballs, the shrine maiden trainee using her link with the Yin-Yang Orb to call over the two duplicates that it turned into, the two smaller yin-yang floating at her left and right side respectively.

Reimu began to jump and roll and somersault, dodging the fireballs as they grazed at her body and clothes. Reimu pointed her gohei at Marisa, the Yin-Yang Orbs shooting danmaku at the protégé. Marisa flew away from the bullets, ceasing her fireball spells, though the orbs around her had continued to shoot out danmaku as they spun around her. Reimu threw holy amulets at Marisa, the witch countering the paper attacks by shooting lightning bolts from her wand, the maiden continuing to fire more lightning attacks towards Reimu. Reimu kept jumping back, the shrine maiden trainee dodging the spell by the skin of her teeth continuously.

Genji flew towards Marisa at high speeds, the turtle managing to hit Marisa as he put his head in his shell, hitting the witch with a blunt, yet relatively powerful, attack. Marisa was knocked off her broom, though she still remained conscious, the little girl quickly using her magic to call the broom back over towards her. Focussing on her broom, Marisa didn't have any time to notice or react to a bunch of holy bullets flying towards her.

"Owww~!" Marisa yelled as the bullets hit her, the purple-themed witch using her magic to command the four spheres to fly towards Reimu as the shrine maiden trainee was focussed on attacking Marisa. Marisa no longer felt the bullets hitting her skin, the red-haired witch opening her eyes to see Reimu once again on Genji, the two flying away from her spheres. Marisa got off the ground, the little girl looking towards the rock that Mima was sitting on, her arms were still crossed over her chest, though she was no longer smirking. In fact, Mima looked rather disappointed and mad at Marisa for having the tables turn on her so drastically and easily. Marisa could feel tears trying to force their way out of her eyes as she saw that look on Mima's face; not only did she fear what the ghost would do to her, but she felt like she was failing the one and only person who believed in her magic - who believed in her so much as to actually _teach_ her how to use magic. Marisa forced those tears back, the witch getting back on her flying broom. Marisa floated in the air, sticking two of her fingers in her mouth and whistling, calling the four spheres back towards her.

Reimu and Genji stopped and caught their breaths, the two being a distance away from Marisa, though they were still in front of the witch. "I must admit, you're pretty strong for someone your age." Genji said.

"Of course I am, I am trained by The Great Madam Mima herself." Marisa said, smiling smugly as she continued to float on her broomstick. The witch continued to wave around her wand, the four spheres increasing in their spinning speed. "And you have only seen the tip of the iceberg of my magical capabilities, if you think this is 'pretty strong', then you're not going to like what else I got up my sleeve. Stardust Reverie!"

Marisa pointed her wand into the air, the night sky of Reimaden changing. A tear, of sorts, appeared in the sky, changing the night sky with the orange sun with what looked like outer space. Multiple giant, multicoloured, star-shaped danmaku fell from the space sky at fast speeds.

"That's one of Mima's old spells." Genji commented as he flew out of the way of the many falling stars, the turtle and the maiden riding on him grazing the magical stars. The human and holy being could feel intense heat coming from the stars, almost making the former of them sweat. "How can a little girl like her master such a spell? I shouldn't be so easy to use such a high level, high mass super spell!"

"I already told you, stupid fossil, I was taught how to use magic by Mima herself." Marisa responded, the magician enjoying the sight of the two having to avoid all the stars that were being sent towards them while she sat back and watched outside of the area of effect.

"Lady Reimu, there isn't an easy way through this." Genji warned, the turtle narrowly escaping the giant stars summoned by the red-haired maiden, the heat emitting from the spell becoming more intense each time he and Reimu had to squeeze between the giant danmaku attacks. "You're going to have to fire your bullets and ofuda at this Marisa right now. I know about this spell enough to know that it won't be ending any time soon. If you wait until it's over to attack her, she'll probably have regained the mana that is necessary to cast it again. Fire now, while you have the chance!"

Reimu listened, the shrine maiden trainee not replying as she tried to aim at Marisa, though the constant barrage of giant, star-like danmaku was making it hard, not helped by the constant dodges that Genji made in zig-zags at high speeds to avoid such attacks. But she could still find it, that small point where Marisa was right in her aim, where she could see the little girl as she sat back and watched, smirking while her spheres circled around her pointlessly.

Reimu focussed on the little girl that was what seemed like miles away from her, holy bullets shooting out from the two black and white yin-yang to her side.

Marisa felt confident in her victory. It seemed like she would beat the little brat that refused to give up and let Madam Mima take her power. That she was proven too strong for the little eggplant head. She was no longer a worthless regular human who would merely be another face in the sea of humanity, she would now be known forever as a mighty magician who has been trained by the greatest witch to have ever existed, as well as that same witch's right-hand woman. She had learned and mastered the Stardust Reverie; a fearsome spell that was first conceptualised by Mima herself as she began to become the strongest that the world will ever know. Despite not sounding like a terrifying spell, the Stardust Reverie is still a powerful spell of mass destruction, one which as left even some of the bravest with countless nights without sleep.

It was all going smoothly as the little eggplant head and the old fossil were trapped in her Reverie, an omen of her victory.

Then magical bullets were sent flying her way in rapid succession. Marisa's heart clenched with her throat, the human unprepared for such an attack. Thinking only with her natural reflexes, Marisa moved one of the spheres, the light blue one, in front of her, acting like a shield as she wasn't currently using it as a weapon.

The fine piece of marble was able to withstand the holy bullets that were hitting it a dozen a second, giving Marisa a secure feeling that caused her heart to no longer need to pump her full of adrenaline, allowing her to finally think clearly. Only able to see the trainee and turtle as one little dot flying among her hundreds of giant stars, Marisa waved her wand over her open palm, making a pair of glasses. Marisa put the glasses on, enchanted items that held a magical and useful purpose.

They held no destructive purposes, but Mima still taught her the spell regardless. And it seemed like this moment was a good moment to remember that lesson.

The magical lenses in the glasses began to work, causing her vision to zoom in on the dot. Marisa could see Reimu riding on Genji as he flew them both through the massively destructive stars, the trainee shooting bullets from her two yin-yang. Marisa then began to hear cracks against the sound of the magical bullets hitting marble, the young magician apprentice taking off the magical classes to see that the orb she was using to protect herself was beginning to crack, the cracks spreading around as the blue object was about to break.

Marisa quickly used her magic to make her broom fly away, taking three of the spheres with her as they followed after her, the spheres that weren't being used to protect her. The blue orb broke into dozens of pieces, the pieces evaporating into the air. Marisa could hear the marble object break apart clear enough, even as she flew away, but it didn't matter much to her as she could simply create another one with ease.

Genji finally managed to fly himself and Reimu out of the Stardust Reverie, the star-shaped danmaku coincidentally, and rather frustratingly, stopping from falling down. It still felt hot for Reimu and Genji as the heat from the Stardust Reverie has yet to disappear, but that would happen in time.

Reimu looked at the area of ground that was once hit by the Stardust Reverie as she and Genji avoided the aforementioned spell, her purple eyes widening as she saw a large hole in the ground, smouldering smoke coming out of the hole.

"She really is strong." Reimu commented, the shrine maiden trainee looking back at Marisa. "But it doesn't matter how strong you are, even if you can blow up the planet itself I'll still fight you. And I'll fight you until I beat you."

Reimu's eyes widened as she noticed that one of the marble orbs was no longer there, the trainee remembering the missing orb cracking up as she hit it with her constant barrage of holy attacks. Reimu smiled, figuring out how to get rid of those annoying spheres that Marisa had summoned.

Marisa glared at Reimu slightly before smirking again. "Ha, so you think that you've won now that you figured out a way around my Orreries? Don't hold your breath, I can easily make many more of those." The red-haired witch said, pointing her little wand towards the trainee - her enemy. "'Sides, I got many more tricks up my little sleeves, don't think that you're anywhere near to defeating me."

Marisa began swinging her wand around, creating magic circles that appeared around Reimu and Genji, pure light energy quickly building up in the circles. Genji quickly flew away from the magic circles as they released highly concentrated beams of pure light that could blast through rock and steel. Marisa waved her wand around some more, summoning a massive wave of star-shaped danmaku, like with her Stardust Reverie spell, albeit much smaller and weaker, but also much denser.

It was at that moment that Reimu remembered some simple barrier creating moves that she had learned from Gyoku, the maiden creating a light blue rectangle in front of her and Genji as the turtle continued to fly forwards, the barrier shield managing to block and withstand all of the star-shaped danmaku that Marisa was sending towards the duo. The magician changed her tactic, flying upwards into the air until Reimu and Genji were looking up to see her. The witch summoned more magic circles that would shoot out lasers, this time though it was just one that was right behind them.

The laser charged up much quicker than the other ones that were summoned prior, due to more magic power being charged into it, the laser hitting Reimu and Genji before the two could react, causing them to plummet to the ground. Once again Reimu had fallen against the hard ground, the maiden getting annoyed by this constant. Reimu looked up at the sky, seeing Marisa as a faint and tiny silhouette, due to the distance between them. There was a flash of colour that came from the silhouette, something rather bright coming towards Reimu.

The trainee widened her eyes as she realised that it was a fireball as it came closer to her, the girl rolling out of the way before the ball of fire could hit her. The ground where Reimu's head was once at was now burnt, luckily the trainee had gotten her head out of the way before the fireball could disfigure her face, or worse.

Reimu got back on her feet, once again running away from rapid fireballs being sent towards her, the maiden running towards Genji as he regained consciousness. Thank the great gods above that being a holy spirit allowed him to regain consciousness quickly. Reimu jumped on Genji and was on air level with Marisa once again.

"Sheesh, do you ever give up, Eggplant?" Marisa asked, scratching her head with the star on her wand. "You'd think that at this point you'd throw in the towel and let Mima kill ya and win, but you just keep on fighting. I know this is your life on the line, but that doesn't mean you have to be so determined to live."

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you that..." Reimu started, the shrine maiden trainee stopping as she began to connect the dots and realise that Eggplant is a nickname. "What, _I'm_ Eggplant!"

Genji rolled his eyes, even though he cared greatly for Reimu and found her to be mostly adorable, he found that he might have to be doing the talking as Reimu's head was almost somewhere else. "Lady Reimu is as strong-willed and unwilling to give up as all the Hakureis before her; there is nothing you can do to make her give up." Genji said. "This isn't going to be as easy as you think."

"Whatever, like I'm outta spells." Marisa shrugged. Reimu began to get back on track, the shrine maiden trainee only somewhat annoyed by the fact that the red-haired girl in front of her was referring to her as another name. "I can just fill the both of ya with spells that will leave you barely conscious."

Marisa then sent one of the three remaining Orreries towards Reimu and Genji, the flying turtle carrying the trainee managing to dodge the high-speed marble object, the other two Orreries spinning around Marisa as they shot out light blue sphere with a slight trail that homed in on Reimu. The trainee was able to graze the attacks, attempting to hit Marisa with her danmaku, only for the witch to once again dodge.

Marisa called back the Orrery that she sent towards Reimu and Genji, the marble sphere almost hitting the maiden on the back of her head, completely on purpose.

The witch waved her wand around, creating a giant magic circle in the air which began to conjure icicles into existence, the icicles shooting down towards Reimu and Genji, much like when they were facing the Five Magic Stones. Reimu continued to shoot danmaku and ofuda at Marisa as Genji dodged the icicles for them, of course Marisa was also dodging as she continued to cast her spell.

Even though Reimu had failed to shoot down Marisa, she still succeeded to destroy one of the Orreries, the red one, so at least there was that. Marisa grit her teeth, the protégé opting to shoot lightning out of her wand and towards Reimu. The shrine maiden trainee did the same barrier shield trick she did earlier, the barrier protecting her and Genji from the lightning bolts as the holy animal flew them closer. Marisa began to sweat as the duo was coming at fast speeds, the maiden shooting fireballs at the two, her attacks of course being futile against the barrier being casted by the trainee.

Reimu and Genji were now close to Marisa, so close that the purple-haired could hit the red-haired with her gohei, which she did do. "Hey, stop hitting me with your wannabe wand, Eggplant!" Marisa yelled. Marisa may be a pro at casting spells and at projectile attacks, but melee and hand-to-hand combat were definitely not her forte. Thus the magician was very unprepared on how to face Reimu as she kept hitting her with her gohei. Thinking quick, Marisa made one of the Orreries fly towards Reimu, the trainee having little of a chance to react as the marble ball hit her at point-blank range. Luckily Reimu wasn't knocked off of Genji this time, though Marisa was able to use the time to fly away from Reimu, regaining her distance and her smug grin.

"This battle has been going on for a bit too long." Reimu said, feeling painfully tired, sweat marring her forehead as it fell down from there. "I'm starting to get tired and I need my energy to fight Mima."

"Well your battle against Mima is never going to happen, not while I'm around. You should just give up now, I'll even help you with that." Marisa said, raising her wand into the air, creating a giant sphere of darkness that hovered over the star attached the redhead's wand. The longer the darkness sphere hovered over the witch, the bigger it grew, reaching twice the size of a house and growing to even bigger sizes. "Dodge this, Eggplant!"

Marisa swung her wand towards the trainee and turtle duo, the large sphere now slowly falling towards them like a moon or slow asteroid. From Reimu's point of view, it looked like the entire sky had been covered by the darkness. It felt like an invisible force was pulling Reimu and Genji towards the sphere, like it was so huge that it had its own centre of gravity.

Marisa watched as the form of Reimu and Genji was completely taken over by the large sphere of darkness that she had made, the giant sphere hitting into the ground, creating an explosion of dark light that completely destroyed Marisa's view of the world. After a while, the darkness began to clear, showing that the sphere had created a large crater. Marisa felt exhausted, barely even having the magic energy to float on her broom, but that last attack should have worked. It shouldn't have killed the trainee, after all if Marisa had killed Reimu then she would be the one gaining control of the Yin-Yang Orb, which would make _her_ the biggest obstacle in Mima's goals. And Marisa was certain that, even with the power of that holy Hakurei Orb, she would stand no chance against Mima.

Not that she would willingly fight against Mima anyways.

Marisa put the glasses back on, the protégé hoping that the enchanted item would help her find Reimu, though she couldn't find the trainee anywhere. Not even in the crater, writhing in agony as she's on her last breaths of air, like she expected to find her. Marisa could feel something approaching fast from the side, the magician turning around to see Reimu, the trainee miraculously undamaged and aiming the Yin-Yang Orb, now large and as just one version, straight at her.

Marisa felt alarmed, commanding the purple Orrery to protect her with its marble body. The Orrery smashed upon collision with the black-white yin-yang, the holy orb returning to its owner, who was only a few inches away. Reimu quickly threw the Yin-Yang Orb at the last remaining Orrery, destroying the green ball of marble. Marisa felt her blood change into ice water, the magician trying to think of whatever other spell she could use against such a close distance opponent. Marisa though of summoning another quartet of Orreries, but Reimu swatted the magic weapon out of her hand with her gohei before the red-haired witch could cast her spell.

Marisa felt fear, she never believed that she would feel this against a weak maggot that shouldn't even stand a chance against her, and yet she was feeling this exact feeling against the eggplant head.

Reimu hit Marisa with her holy danmaku at point-blank range, knocking the witch of her broom, which then fell down to the ground without her magic to keep it afloat in the air.

Genji lowered Reimu to the ground, the trainee and turtle looking at Marisa as she layed on the ground with her broom next to her. She was on her back, with her arms outstretched to her side, somehow still conscious and alive. Marisa looked up at the orange sun, tears leaking out from her eyes as she came to the sad realisation of her situation; she had been defeated by the shrine maiden trainee, the one she was certain that she would defeat.

But, most of all, she had failed Madam Mima, just like the rest.

* * *

 **Author's Note: And here marks the conclusion of the battle against Marisa, mostly with liberties of my own. I probably had over ideas for spells that she could use in battle, but I probably forgot about them whilst writing. Eh, it's okay though. The battle is already kind of long, and it seems like I've decided that the usual word count for each chapter of this story is about 5,000 words or so. And besides, considering that Marisa is still a little girl, the battle shouldn't be that long and hard, especially since I'm supposed to have Reimu fight Mima right after Marisa, and we know how strong the ghost is.**

 **I also wanted to try and fit some character development into the story for Marisa, 'cause after this arc is over she's going to become a main character, like Reimu. After all, that's what happens in the games.**

 **Also there was obviously little love for Matenshi in this chapter, sorry. I honestly mostly forgot about her when I began writing this arc and only remembered her when reading up on Reimaden and when watching videos of Stage 4 of Story of Eastern Wonderland, and I was adamant on this chapter being the one where Reimu fights Marisa, so yeah little love for her. And she's not an angel in this, just a youkai that looks like an angel and believes her acts to righteous, or something like that.**

 **She'll definitely make an appearance later... though it really won't be that much respectful to her either. I'm honestly just starting to think of things that'll make Matenshi the Butt Monkey of this story, at least for a part of the PC-98 Era.**

 **As always, reviews of all kinds are appreciated, even constructive criticism.**


	16. Reincarnation

Marisa laid on the ground, unable to fund the power to move. She was defeated; she should be so much stronger, so much more skilled than the trainee, but she still lost. She still felt afraid. After everything, despite her ambition, despite pushing herself to the limit to master every spell the invincible Madam Mima had taught her, she still lost.

"Well, that's Marisa down." Reimu said as she looked at the defeated protégé. Reimu did feel sorry for the other little girl, especially because of how sad she was, but she was still working for Mima and didn't care about the fact that she was gong to let the rest of her kind either die or spend the rest of their lives as slaves for the ghost. Regardless of how she felt, Reimu this is what was meant to be done. Reimu and Genji turned around towards Mima, the ghost now floating over the rock she was sitting on, her eyes completely covered in shadows caused by her hair, though there was still an immense aura of anger coming from the ghost. "Now it's your turn, Mima."

"... Pathetic." Mima said simply, though her voice was still filled with anger. Reimu never heard so much disdain in the voice of anything or anyone before. Mima floated over towards Marisa, the shadows covering the ghost's face disappearing to reveal a hateful glare. "You have failed me, Marisa. I actually had faith in you, but you're just another disappointment."

"M-Mima, I can expl-." Marisa mumbled as she stumbled back on her feet, but she was abruptly cut off as a powerful force of magic pushed her back and slammed her against a tree, the same invisible magic force seemingly trying her to the tree, her legs stuck against each other as her arms were stuck against her side.

"SILENCE!" Mima roared angrily, the powerful and invisible force of magic coming from the tremendously strong ghost. Reimu and Genji were somehow unaffected by the immense aura of magic that was coming from Mima; was it that she wasn't focussing on them? That they still had enough strength to fight back against the raw force of her magic? Or was it possible that this was a blessing from the Hakurei God itself? "I don't need you, you pathetic, worthless, miserable failure! You're just like the rest, a waste of my time and power! I should have remembered from the start that I didn't need the help of someone who is alive, someone who is a child, someone who doesn't understand the true power of magic and will never comprehend it!"

Marisa noticed some tears fall down Mima's angry face, though the little girl couldn't think about it much as she was terrified. One of the most powerful being she has ever known, a sorcerous said to have written some of the oldest and most powerful grimoires in existence, was angry at her. It didn't help that she taught Marisa every tick and spell she knows, or that this ghost is known for grudges that can last centuries.

"I DON'T NEED YOU, I DON'T NEED ANYONE! I NEED ONLY MYSELF! MYSELF AND MY ULTIMATE POWER!" Mima roared some more, the ghost turning around the face Reimu and Genji. She had closed her eyes and breathed in and out, a calming technique as breathing was otherwise useless to a ghost. Mima raised her hand up in the air, her sceptre appearing in her hand. Mima opened her eyes, still glaring, this time at the trainee and turtle. "I need only myself. I exist on a pedestal above all others, requiring and wanting the help of others just sullies everything about me. I will defeat you by myself, little brat. Gensokyo will just be the first stepping stone for my goals of absolute domination. I've had enough of you and your entire damn Hakurei bloodline, it has been far too long for it to be erased from the history books."

Mima shot a laser from her staff at Reimu, the trainee barely able dodge the fast-moving attack. The green-haired ghost swung her crescent sceptre downwards towards the ground, causing a giant mass of many star-shaped danmaku to shoot down towards Reimu and Genji like an army of meteorites, coming down to bring oblivion to everything in Reimaden. Reimu quickly got back on Genji, the flying turtle flying into the air at high-speeds, dodging the giant mass as it continued to come down with little space between the multicoloured attacks. Reimu had to duck and grab onto the fast-moving turtle as he spun around and mad abrupt and dynamic turns to avoid the stars as best as he could. But even then, many had still grazed at Reimu and Genji, and some had even managed to hit them. Luckily though, the stars weren't the strongest of danmaku, so they only hurt like a burning sting.

Painful, but something that they could fight through.

When it seemed like Genji had finally gotten them out of the falling waterfall of star danmaku, he and Reimu looked to the tree where Marisa was still tied to by an invisible force, only to see that Mima wasn't there.

"Looking for me~?" Mima's voice asked from behind. Reimu barely had the chance to turn around towards the ghost as she was hit in the side of the head by the moon on her staff, the trainee falling to the ground.

"Lady Reimu!" Genji yelled out, the supernatural turtle swooping down towards the shrine maiden trainee, luckily managing to catch the little girl before she hit the ground, though at this point it would just be more of an annoyance than anything else. "Are you alright, Lady Reimu?"

"Yeah, I think I'm alright." Reimu responded, rubbing the side of her face that was hit by Mima. The trainee looked up at the ghost, the magician's spirit summoning spinning Orreries like Marisa, sending them flying towards the two as a spinning circle. Genji flew past the small space between the Orreries, Reimu fired danmaku at Mima.

"Don't think that your pathetic bullets can really defeat me." Mima said as she stretched a hand out towards the trainee and her oncoming bullets, surrounding her self with a see through sphere with a slight hue of green. The sphere that surrounded Mima protected her from Reimu's danmaku, causing the trainee to cease firing as she knew how futile it was to fire bullets at Mima while the ghost was protected by her sphere. Mima smirked, making the shield around her disappear, the magician appearing in front of her instantaneously, her smirk still on her face. "Tell you what, kid, this battle would be too boring and anticlimactic if I just killed you right now while you're weak, at least for the battle where I finally obtain the Hakurei Orbs. I'll give you this, not that you'll ever beat me; this will just make the battle more memorable."

Mima put the crescent moon of her staff over her palm, waving it around in a small motion, making some green and red cubes appear on her spectral palm. The ghost then threw the cubes at Reimu at point-blank range, faster than the little girl could dodge or block, especially with her exhaustion. The most that Reimu could do was flinch, the thrown cubes touching her body and being absorbed into it.

"Lady Reimu, what happened?!" Genji asked in fear, knowing that those cubes could be poisonous or they could overdrive Reimu's energy and cause her to die from having too much power to contain, or simply kill her by burning out her body. The turtle glared at Mima. "What did you do, Mima? Tell me!"

"Oh I just gave her some helpful, special items that would help her replenish her health, power and energy." Mima responded, looking at the glaring turtle with a cocky smirk. "It doesn't really change the outcome of the battle in slightest, I'm still going to inevitably win, but it will make it more fun and easier to remember as I sit on a golden throne with all in the universe - even the gods - bowing down to me in a plea for my mercy."

"Lies! Lies! I know well enough of how honest you are, Mima the Deceitful...!" Genji growled, reasonably disbelieving in the ghost.

"Actually, she's right, Genji. I feel like I just started this adventure to stop Mima, and I don't feel poisoned or anything." Reimu said from above Genji, sounding completely normal. The ancient turtle looked up at the shrine maiden trainee, seeing that she was completely healed, even right down to her clothing. The turtle still wasn't fully convinced, closing his eyes and focussing on the auras around him. Despite being right on top of him, it was a little hard to sense Reimu's aura, due to the fact that the immense and overwhelming aura of Mima's tremendous magic power was also next to him. However, Genji still managed to find Reimu's aura, the ancient being checking her aura meticulously. Genji let out a sigh of relief as it turned out that there was indeed no evil magic power in the trainee, or anything else like that.

"Well, never thought that I could trust Mima on her honesty." Genji commented, the turtle looking back at the green-eyed ghost in front of him, having remaining floating there patiently, waiting for the two to finish so she can start having her fun.

"Don't get used to it, this will be the last time you ever hear me being honest about my promises and all of that other empty crap." Mima said, the spirit flying away from the two, even further into the air, pointing her sceptre at the duo. "Prepare to die, Hakurei Maiden. Your struggles in this battle will exist only to serve for my enjoyment. You will never stand a chance against me, but don't make this boring for me. If you keep me bored as I try to kill you, I'll just torture you instead of letting you die in battle. Nevertheless, no matter what you or I do, I can assure you that this will end in your demise and my victory."

A rapid fire of small, purple, star-shaped danmaku came from the crescent moon on Mima's staff, right in the middle of the fake moon, directly at Reimu and Genji. The duo flew out of the way of the attack, though it was easier said than done as Mima still tried to keep her aim on the trainee and turtle. That of which wasn't helped by the fact that the star-shaped danmaku bounced off the ground and invisible walls.

The star-shaped danmaku disappeared shortly there after, only for Mima to throw her sceptre at Reimu, the item spinning around as it flew. Genji lowered himself and Reimu quickly, allowing Reimu to avoid the item. Genji rose up in the air again, the turtle and the maiden atop of him growing confused as they saw a smirk on Mima's lips. Unbeknownst to the two, the sceptre thrown by Mima had stopped in the air, floating by the witch's magical power. The crescent was once again pointing a Reimu, a sphere of green energy quickly forming between the tips of the moon.

Marisa, still tied to the tree by Mima's magical force without a chance to escape or be free, had noticed the energy building between the tips of the crescent. She quickly recognised it as a beam attack, after all it was simple elementary.

Marisa didn't know what it was, but something screamed within the protégé to warn Reimu about the attack. "Hey, Eggplant, look out from behind!" Marisa yelled, her voice being unheard from how far she was. She couldn't even watch the battle if it weren't for the fact that she could use a levitation spell with her mouth to put the glasses on her face after they were knocked off her from Reimu's attack. Marisa quickly looked through the labyrinth of her memories, searching through the vast myriad of spells she learned from Mima until she found a specific spell that could help her. Marisa quickly mumbled a spell under her breath, a megaphone appearing in front of her face, floating in the air in front of her. Marisa made a deep breath before yelling into the object. "YO, EGGPLANT, THERE'S A BIG ASS BEAM COMIN' YOUR WAY. GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!"

Reimu and Genji looked back at Marisa, taken by surprise from her random yell in a loud voice. Their eyes widened as a giant, green beam was heading towards them. Genji barely flew out of the way of the beam attack, the tremendous spell of great destruction grazing both of them. They heard a tremendous boom happen from behind them, the two looking back at the source of the explosion, their eyes growing wide as they saw that a massive hole was burned and blasted into one of the mountains.

Just the thought of if that beam had hit them...

Mima was truly one who wouldn't hold back in making her victim's last moments as painful as possible.

"What in the grand name of all the Hells are you doing, Marisa!" Mima yelled angrily, the ghost not happy about what her former protégé just did. "And just when I thought that there was actually a chance for you to live and not become a slave after I obtain the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb. You're definitely going to suffer for this, mark my words, little girl!"

Marisa felt a chill of fear race up her spine at the ghost's threat, but she already figured that she wouldn't last that long after the eggplant head was killed, so she was probably doing this just to survive for longer. Nevertheless, she knew that she would have to help the shrine maiden trainee, even if the mere thought alone left a bit of a putrid taste on her tongue.

Reimu fired danmaku and ofuda at Mima, the attacks hitting the ghost as she wasn't prepared for the attack. Mima had actually felt pain from the attack, the magic in it allowing even undead spirits like her to feel pain from the attacks. Mima teleported away, appearing a distance away from Reimu's side. The ghost used her magic to call her sceptre back to her, catching it in her hand effortlessly.

Golden electricity sparked around the crescent of Mima's staff, the ghost firing a powerful lightning bolt towards Reimu and Genji. "LOOK OUT, SHE'S SENDING YOU A LIGHTNING BOLT FROM YOUR SIDE!" Marisa yelled through the floating megaphone, her enchanted glasses allowing her to watch the otherwise far away battle. The trainee and turtle duo looked at their side to see the lightning bolt, once again barely dodging it.

"It has been so long since I have last fought against Mima, I'm growing sluggish against her." Genji commented, remembering the days of yore that were long, long ago, where he was able to react accordingly to Mima's tricks and attacks, without a third party member having to warn him of what the ghost is going to do. It was embarrassing, but it showed that even a holy spirit like him can grow weak from many years of inactivity. As much as he seemed like a youkai, he still wasn't one; Genji didn't have the benefit of naturally growing in strength, intellect and skill with time.

Oh how it was actually possible for him to become jealous of the youkai.

"I'm going to need some help if I can beat you this time, Mima." Reimu said, the trainee beginning to understand how powerful Mima truly is. The purple-haired little girl put her hands on the two Yin-Yang Orbs, both glowing with holy energy. "Sin, Gyoku, come to my aid!"

"I'm here for you, Lady Reimu." Sin said as she appeared, the red-haired priestess spirit floating in front of the trainee and turtle.

"We will protect you from Mima, Lady Reimu." Gyoku said as he too had appeared, the priest spirit seemingly standing on the air as he flew in front of the maiden.

"Ah, Sin and Gyoku, once again you're here. It is almost fitting." Mima said, an evil grin appearing on her face. "It almost seems fitting, as you are summoned in this battle that your former master will die in. And it also seems fitting that the one who killed both of you will be gaining absolute control over you."

"I will never obey you, Evil Witch!" Gyoku growled, magic power charging in his hands.

"I would much rather be erased from existence than obey your command." Sin said to the evil spirit, concurring with her twin brother.

"Oh ho ho, that's adorable. It's so cute to see my future slaves believe that they have a choice." Mima said. "I have been learning about the Yin-Yang Orb for years, years that are even more than when you have been alive. I know more about the Yin-Yang Orb than even you two, spirits that have been living in the Orb since I ended both of you, could ever come close to ever knowing. That is some commentary on how pathetic both of you are."

Sin began to fire red lasers from her palms towards Mima while Gyoku summoned a myriad of white bullets and shoot them towards the ghost. Mima smirked again, swinging her sceptre towards the two, medium-sized star-shaped danmaku coming from the crescent.

Gyoku formed a blue barrier to protect himself and his sister, as well as the trainee and floating turtle behind him, his palms outstretched right in front of him. The star-shaped danmaku hit the barrier, almost breaking it instantly as cracks appeared all over it. Gyoku made a grunt, almost in pain, his body spasming back as he could barely even hold the barrier together, which honestly just looked like a pile of pieces staying together with all of its cracks.

And it was unaware to all of those participating in the battle that they were being watched by a mechanical bird and the one controlling it.

"Brother, you're barrier power isn't strong enough to protect us against her." Sin warned, the spirit worrying for her brother.

"I don't care, I won't fail like last time." Gyoku responded with gritted teeth, sweat on his brow.

"Oh, Gyoku, you naïve child, still believing in yourself." Mima said condescendingly, the spirit too busy focussing on the two guardians she was mocking to notice that her true target and the ancient entity she was riding were flying away to somewhere else. Mima's smirked widened into a more malicious grin, a green sphere of destructive magic energy once again appearing on her crescent as she pointed it towards the two. "As if either of you two could ever even dream about the power I possess. You're even less of a challenge than the pathetic shrine maiden trainee that summoned you, I almost want to laugh at you in pity."

The beam fired at the two sibling spirits, engulfing them in the smoke of an explosion. Mima snorted before once again just outright laughing, holding onto her spectral stomach as she laughed away.

A giant yin-yang, part brown and part transparent, suddenly shot out of the smoke caused by the explosion, the giant and also spectral object managing to hit Mima as she was completely unprepared. Mima was sent rolling through the air, the ghost quickly regaining proper control and floating upright in the air. Mima looked slightly dazed, the ghost quickly catching up on what had happened, especially as she recognised the yin-yang spirit floating in front of her.

"So you two managed to not be sent back to the Yin-Yang Orb and fused back together, hitting me when I was laughing at your quick defeat." Mima said, not looking much annoyed or angry. "What ever, it doesn't matter. You know nothing of the true power of magic - especially when it's in the hands of a true master."

Mima raised her sceptre into the air, the sky shining with magic energy.

* * *

"There, are you alright now?" Reimu asked as she placed Marisa on the ground, far from the livid and crazy ghost. The shrine maiden trainee decided that, since Marisa had helped her and would be punished by Mima, she would have to get the little girl out of trouble's way, especially as she was still bruised from the battle they had. Luckily it was easy to pull Marisa out of the invisible bounds of magic that Mima had placed on her, it seemed like the spirit hadn't focussed on making it that they could handle the touch of others. Reimu had grabbed hold of Marisa and Genji had flown them to a safe patch of grass and trees that Mima was unaware of.

And now they were here, at this point in time.

Marisa was silent, looking at the ground and her bruised arms. "Yeah, I'm fine. Those bounds were tight, so I'm no longer uncomfortable." Marisa responded, looking away from the purple-haired trainee. She wasn't really used to this kind of kindness, unless if it was from Madam Mima, and even then it was only if she made the ghost pleased. "Thank you, I guess."

"Well you're quite ungrateful." Reimu responded grumpily, her hands one her hips as she gave Marisa a look reminiscent of a glare.

"Sheesh, sorry for making you mad, _Mum_!" Marisa responded sarcastically, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked away from the girl that is meant to be just as old as her. Reimu was left still from the protégé's response, mostly to her rather hateful-sounding remark towards her parent. It unearthed some memories of Reimu's loss, memories that no longer hurt her after it has been months since that time. The trainee almost wanted to give Marisa a powerful whack on the head, but she managed to keep herself under control in this rare moment.

There was suddenly a large boom in the sky, right where Mima is meant to be. Reimu, Marisa and Genji looked to the area in the sky, seeing many large, star-shaped danmaku falling from the sky like falling stars, exploding into even more star-shaped danmaku. The danmaku disappeared behind the trees, creating large explosions where the ground is. The Yin-Yang Orbs began to glow, Sin and Gyoku appeared from the holy relic, albeit only in the form of formless phantoms with minor parts that defined them as the twins; Sin had what looked like her hair (albeit without the colour) while Gyoku had what looked like his hat (once again without the colour).

"Sorry, Lady Reimu, she's too strong." Gyoku said, his voice full of shame, bowing in the same emotion.

"We are ultimately no match against her." Sin said, also bowing her head in shame.

"It's alright, Sin, Gyoku. I just needed you two to keep Mima distracted while I save Marisa." Reimu said, petting the phantoms. Marisa looked at the other little girl, still wondering what reason she had to save her. Maybe it was because she wanted to get information on how to beat Mima and her weaknesses from the protégé. Marisa smirked, as far as she's certain Mima had no weaknesses. The two phantoms went back into the yin-yang, Reimu went back on Genji. "C'mon, Gramps, we should go to Mima. And Marisa..."

Reimu paused, the little girl facing away from the magician. Marisa's smirk turned into a frown, the red-haired girl raising an eyebrow at the purple-haired girl. "What?" Marisa asked rudely.

"I don't know anything about your parents, I don't know why you don't seem to like them, but do know that you should be grateful that you still have them." Reimu said solemnly, the trainee turning her head to look at Marisa, the witch surprised by the look of sadness in Reimu's purple eyes. "Because there are some little girls in this world that don't have the privilege of having their parents being alive, or even having ever met them. You may be following after Mima and helping her get revenge against humanity because you to have probably been mistreated, but do know that your parents are meant to love you."

Reimu flew away on Genji, the trainee heading towards the dangerous ghost that is out for her blood. Marisa just stood there, shell-shocked by the little girl's words.

"...Guess I don't know her as well as I thought I did." Marisa said, the girl remaining there as she was still left shell-shocked.

* * *

Mima flew through the vast, forest-like dimension of Reimaden, her green eyes darting around as she looked for where the shrine maiden trainee was hiding from her. She can't believe that she was outsmarted by a little girl, summoning two spirits to distract her as she ran away. What's more is that she had taken Marisa away with her, and while the ghost is still in the mood to punish the witch for her failure and treachery. Mima was mad that such events had happened, though she still felt like a certain accolade was deserved towards Reimu for such thinking.

"Enough of this. If the trainee won't show herself then I will force her to, unless she wants to die a different way." Mima said, the ghost holding out a palm. A tremendous flame of heat and power that could completely immolate even an entire village of humans appeared on Mima's hand, the ghost threw the flame at the forest before her, setting it all ablaze.

Most of the forest that made up the small pocket dimension of Reimaden was now on fire, at least half of it was now burning away. Mima thinned her lips, the magician not feeling the divine and holy power of the Yin-Yang Orb enter her, nor could she feel any link to the item whatsoever; either Reimu wasn't in the part of the forest that Mima burned or she is still alive within the forest fire. It made no matter to Mima, the green-haired woman proceeding to shoot out a massive volume of water from her hand right at the burning forest.

The water had managed to extinguished the fires that were consuming the forest, though it wasn't much less of a threat than the aforementioned fire. If anything, it was ever worse. The powerful volume of water began uprooting many trees as it destroyed the flames, causing the wooden plants to crash into some of the trees that were managing to handle the powerful wave that Mima was hitting them with relentlessly. Mima finally ceased her water spell, the volume of water beginning to disappear in its entirety. Most of the trees were now lying on the ground, some having even been broken into pieces, all burnt black and without any leaves.

"Hmm, so Reimu wasn't there at all... unless she miraculously survived a phenomenon like that." Mima hummed. The ghost turned around the other area of the forest that she was now sure that Reimu was hiding in, ready to set that part of the forest on fire to force the trainee out of hiding. Mima's eyes had widened as she saw that Reimu wasn't hiding, the little girl and Genji flying towards her. A smile rose on Mima's lips. "Well now, I don't have to waste my time and energy setting the rest of Reimaden on fire. Are you prepared to truly face me instead of running away like a little coward?"

"I only flew away to save Marisa." Reimu said, pointing her gohei at Mima. "I never feared you. I will fight you, Mima, and I will win."

Mima laughed, her hand in front of her mouth as her laugh started to become haughty. "My, my, Hakurei Maiden." Mima said. "Maybe after I kill you, your ghost can get a job as a comedian in the Netherworld. Now, die!"

Mima raised her moon sceptre high in the air, above her head. Countless danmaku of various shapes, colours and sizes appeared around the spectral entity. Mima then swung her staff towards Reimu, the countless danmaku of various appearances flying towards the trainee.

* * *

Marisa was walking around in a circle, her arms crossed over her chest, the girl not sure what to do. Even though she is still hurt and tired, she can still escape Reimaden and return to Gensokyo, or even go somewhere else entirely. She had summoned back her broom, the otherwise normal item still in a condition to carry her and fly her, as long as she used her magic. She could fly on her own, it is her own magic of course, but she can only hover above the ground, and it also causes her to tire easily.

Marisa had focussed most of her training on destructive spells, so she still wasn't all that apt on flying independently. At least she _can_ fly on her own, much more than Reimu 'Eggplant' Hakurei.

Marisa thinned her lips. She wanted to escape, and she can easily escape as the trainee keeps Mima's attention. But there was a little voice in her head telling not be a little coward, to fly towards Mima and help Reimu beat her. And worst of all was that this voice was her own voice.

Marisa heard plenty of loud explosions, the girl looking to where Mima and Reimu are meant to be to see many danmaku of different colours and shapes in the sky. They were like crazy fireworks that were all being fired at once.

It was just more proof to Marisa about Mima's tremendous and terrifying power. It wasn't the cowards way to run away back to Gensokyo, it was the _smart_ person's way to run back to Gensokyo.

Why should she even care for the eggplant head anyways? She had saved the witch from being a possible target of Mima's, but Marisa had already managed to save Reimu from Mima's attacks. She had even done that twice. If anything, the little trainee is still in debt towards her.

But there was still that weird feeling to help the little idiot, to run there and help her fight Mima. She could probably be wanting to help Reimu for the sake of her own life, but even the thought of fighting Mima didn't bode too well with Marisa. Not only because of Mima's aforementioned terrifying and tremendous power, but even now Marisa wasn't quite sure if she had in her to fight her master; deep down, Marisa still saw Mima as her master and still cared for the ghost, even if Mima now hates her as much as she hates the rest of humanity.

"ARRRGH, this is too damn much!" Marisa growled, gripping her hair and clenching her teeth. She planned on beating Reimu easily, that was all she expected. Instead she has been defeated and is now pondering if she should help the same girl or just fly back to Gensokyo and hope that Reimu can beat Mima on her own. Marisa looked at her broom, the item floating in front of her as she still had yet to reach her decision. It felt like the item was being impatient as it waited for her, the little girl letting out a loud and angry groan before hopping onto the broom, sitting on it the traditional way a witch would, pointing her broom towards where the battle was happening. Marisa's boom immediately rocketed, the maiden flying towards the ensuing battle. "You better be thankful for this, Eggplant."

* * *

The sky was filled with chaotic explosions of various colours, magical bullets of different shapes sped through the air, the world was being attacked by what could be called Glitter of Death. This is what it was like for Reimu Hakurei and Genji as they continued to evade the attacks being sent by them from Mima whilst simultaneously trying to hit her with their own danmaku.

It seemed like Mima was trying to hit the two with every last danmaku bullet that she had in her arsenal - at least the basic danmaku, but even then it seemed like there was a vast myriad. Reimu could barely even take any real attention to the bullets, they were moving at speeds that she could barely even dodge, not helped that (as said before) they seemed to have different shapes and colours. Reimu was almost certain that the sight around her would cause her to puke or something else, but so many colours at once cannot be safe for the living.

Tiny bullets that were nearly invisible in their size and speed kept scratching at Reimu's clothes and skin, the trainee's danmaku doing very little damage to the ghost that she was fighting. It was clear as crystal that Mima was vastly better when it came to dodging and firing danmaku - the smirk on the ghost's face proved that this might as well be a game she's playing.

"So many bullets...!" Genji muttered as he continued to try and dodge the fast-moving barrage of rainbow-coloured death. It truly was like a fireworks display, except that the fireworks included more magical bullets than an entire wizards' guild. The magic energy in Reimaden had always felt thick to Genji, but even now it was almost suffocating. It was like Mima was using Reimaden's magical energy to empower herself whilst simultaneously making the magic energy in the air of the pocket dimension even greater. "Lady Reimu, this feels so overwhelming. I feel so tired... I don't know how much longer I can last on."

"We have to keep fighting, Genji. We can't give up until she's defeated!" Reimu yelled, her body covered in scratches and sweat, the joints in the fingers of her hand screaming in the throbbing pain that was caused by her tight grip on Genji's shell that she couldn't yield. "There is too much at stake; Gensokyo, The Outside World, probably the entire universe itself. We gotta stop her, we're the only chance. We _have_ to stop her!"

"I know. It's just that... I don't know how much longer I can dodge." Genji responded as he twisted and turned and flew in loops to dodge the universe of danmaku that Mima was unleashing upon him. "This is so hard, she's not relenting in any way. This is more danmaku than I can handle...!"

As Reimu and Genji were too focussed on talking and shooting down Mima at the same time, a large, blue danmaku ball managed to sneak up on the two and hit Reimu from behind, knocking her off of Genji. The flying turtle looked down at his maiden as she fell away, the turtle quickly becoming hit by the rest of the endless danmaku, stopping him from being able to fly back after Reimu.

Reimu let out a grunt of pain as her back hit the ground, the trainee getting very annoyed by constantly falling off of Genji. Hopefully she won't suffer through this sort of problem when she is able to fly for herself. Reimu looked up, seeing Genji getting hit by countless danmaku of different colour and shapes, being unable to move as he was constantly being hit around from the bullets. The shrine maiden trainee then noticed a large green light in her peripherals. The purple-haired maiden looked to where the light was coming from, seeing Mima charge a laser that was pure magic and green in colour.

This wasn't like the one she used against Reimu earlier, this was massively bigger. It looked like it could be at least four times the size of that laser, and it was only growing bigger. Mima was well aware that Reimu was aware of the laser she was creating, the grinning, green-haired mage merely snapping her ghostly fingers. The grass around Reimu suddenly grew bigger and longer, wrapping around many parts of Reimu's body, rendering her unable to move in the slightest.

"L... Lady Reimu...! You... m-must... run!" Genji yelled, unable to fly towards the Hakurei trainee because even now he was being hit endlessly by danmaku of countless colours and shapes.

"I can't...!" Reimu struggled, the grass wrapped around her arms, legs and body, the magic making the grass strong enough to not snap apart from her own strength.

"Goodbye and goodnight. See you in Hell, Hakurei Maiden!" Mima yelled, firing the laser at Reimu. The purple-eyed maiden's eyes widening as the laser moved towards her, the same maiden being completely unable to move because of the grass wrapped around her from Mima's spell. All she could see was green, all she could hear was the hiss of the laser as it came closer and loser.

Reimu then felt something that was like small explosions near her, the grass around her loosening. Reimu looked down at herself, seeing that the grass was blasted and lost its grip as a result. Reimu looked back at the laser, feeling the heat of the large laser as it neared her.

Everything was a blur, and Reimu was suddenly flying through the air, like when she rides on Genji. But she knew that she wasn't riding the turtle.

For one, Genji was still being hit by the danmaku. Second, she was riding on something that was smaller and skinnier than his shell. And third and final, there was an arm that was small and short, like her own, wrapped around her.

"Jeez, Eggplant, you're so lucky that I decided to help you." Marisa said jokingly, the protégé keeping her arms around the other little girl so she doesn't fall off of the broom. After all, she herself had to take some time to adapt to riding the broom. "If it weren't for me coming at the last second, you would have been as dead as Mima and we would all be super screwed."

"What the Hell, Marisa?!" Mima yelled, the ghost keeping her eyes on the witch as she was flying circles around her. "Already you have failed me, then you warned the enemy of my attack, and now you dare to save her and fight against me?! I thought I could give you a quick and painless death, but you have walked yourself out of such a possibility!"

"Sorry, Madam Mima, but you've gone crazy." Marisa responded, keeping her grip on her broom and Reimu. "I don't want to stop learning magic from you, I even hope that after all of this you will get your marbles back and stop acting so crazy and bloodthirsty. But this is too far, for all of us, even you. I hope you can forgive me, but I'm helping the eggplant head."

"If you're going to help me, at least call me my name!" Reimu yelled.

"Fine then, _Reimu_ , what do you want us to do?" Marisa asked with slight annoyance. Mima began firing star-shaped danmaku towards the two human girls the same way he fired bullets at Reimu earlier, from the crescent of her staff, the bullets bouncing off the air - off invisible walls.

"First, we're going to have to get Genji out of the danmaku field." Reimu yelled. The shrine maiden trainee and her new witch friend (?) looked at Genji, seeing the holy, turtle-like entity still being hit by many danmaku bullets of different colours and shapes, though this time there were much less as Mima had to exert her magic and attention to other things than the rainbow swarm of danmaku that she was unleashing. "I can't fly, but Genji can. If you are able to fly, and I am able to ride on Genji, then Mima will have to focus on two separate targets. I can't guarantee that that will work, but it is something that we can try."

"I don't know if you're aware of it, but that is a ton of danmaku surrounding him. Plus, it might be hard to get to that turtle when Mima is still firing danmaku at us!" Marisa yelled, steering and turning the broom around as she dodged the endless star danmaku that Mima was firing towards her and Reimu. Mima ceased to fire her star-shaped danmaku at the two maidens, the ghost instead deciding to use a different kind of spell against them. Mima held out her palms, making flames appear above both of her palms. The blood drained from Marisa's face, the protégé knowing what Mima was planning on using. "If we survive this, you owe me all the treasure in the sea!"

"I'm constantly broke!" Reimu yelled.

Mima shot a tremendously huge blast of fires of intense heat from her hands, aimed right at Marisa and Reimu. Marisa bit the inside of her mouth, the magician gripping at her broom with both of her hands as Reimu mimicked her action. Marisa's broom rocketed through the sky, avoiding the immense fire being sent towards her and Reimu from Mima, albeit it was constantly by the skin of their teeth.

Sweat caused Reimu and Marisa's clothes to stick to their skin as the heat coming from the fire was truly hot and immense. Marisa even had to constantly looked back behind her to make sure that the fibres weren't caught on fire.

" _How are they both still alive?_ " Mima mentally question herself as she still continued to try to incinerate the two girls with her fire, but they constantly avoided her as Marisa continued to pour her magic into her broomstick. " _They're just little girls, one of them is even trained by me and she knows only a few of my tricks, they should not be able to survive this. And yet, despite all logic being dictated, they are still escaping the grasp of death. They shouldn't be able to stand a chance against!_ "

Marisa was beginning to huff in exertion, the heat and all of the energy she was pouring into her broomstick were starting to make her feel weak. "Listen, Reimu, if you got some master plan or some deus ex machina up your sleeves, I would really appreciate you using it right now." Marisa said. She really never expected this, helping the same girl that she agreed to defeat when she began training from Mima. Nor did she expect to start fighting against Mima, for one reason or another. This was something that she didn't expect at all, and she knew that she can't back out of it until after they defeat Mima. That is _if_ they defeat Mima. "I'm kinda getting tired over here. And if I run out of energy, this broom won't be able to carry us and we'll be burned alive."

"Just hang in there for a little longer." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee focussing her eyes on Genji. He was barely being hit by danmaku anymore and was still floating in the air, but he looked greatly damaged; barely able to dodge what little danmaku that was still being aimed at him. Luckily though, Genji's regeneration abilities are faster than the speeds of the bullets, so if a bit more time lasts then he should be able to fully heal. And if that happens, then Reimu can ride him again, in which Mima will be left fighting two different enemies. "We need a bit more time left for Genji to heal."

The fire was closing in on Reimu and Marisa. The trainee panicked, a thought coming to her head without proper thinking. Reimu practically lunged at Marisa as she suddenly hugged the redhead, causing her to lose her proper control and balance, causing the broom to began shooting towards the ground. Both girls let out a scream as Marisa tried to direct the aim of the broomstick to somewhere else before they hit the ground and basically become sitting ducks for Mima's attacks. Marisa managed to regain control of the broomstick, allowing her and Reimu to turn to the side and fly just above the ground, their feet mere inches above such.

The two maidens flew underneath Mima, the green-haired ghost looking down at the two, no longer shooting fire out of her hands as she too was taken by a sense of surprise from the sudden action. Reimu and Marisa were flown back into the air, the broomstick that they were riding now a distance away from Mima.

The two humans let out a sigh of relief, though this was mostly because they no longer suffered under the intense heat of Mima's fire.

Mima let out an annoyed yell, akin to a roar, shooting dozens of spears of light towards the red-haired and purple-haired duo. Marisa once again put her magic into her broomstick, the witch allowing her and the other maiden to escape being the spears of light, albeit just barely; the projectiles of light grazing at their skin. Reimu fired danmaku at Mima, the ghost thankfully not dodging as she was too focussed on hitting the two girls. It also seemed that Reimu's danmaku are stronger against Mima than they were earlier, though not by much of a margin.

"Reimu, I'm seriously getting really tired!" Maris yelled, dodging all of the spears of light was probably the biggest challenge she has ever faced in her (admittedly) little life.

"Just get us a little closer to Genji, we're almost there." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden trainee beginning to focus less on firing at Mima and more on Genji. As the two maidens neared the turtle, Reimu suddenly stood on her feet.

"What the Hell are you doin'?!" Marisa yelled as she saw the purple-haired maiden standing on the broom, barely able to keep her balance because of the broom's thin width and the high speeds that both of the little girls were flying at. "In case if you didn't notice, we're kinda flying even faster than a train, or even a airplane. You probably don't know how fast they are, but they are really fast. Also, THERE'S A GHOST TRYING TO HIT YOU WITH MASSIVE ATTACKS THAT ARE JUST AS FAST AS US! Get back on your butt, you little, suicidal moron!"

Reimu didn't respond or say a word, the trainee instead jumping off the broom, diving head first towards Genji as he was no longer being pelted by danmaku, the turtle currently healing and conscious but not fully lucid.

"Damn, she really is a suicidal moron." Marisa deadpanned as she watch the other girl plummet down without a second thought, somehow dodging and evading the light attacks sent towards her falling form.

Reimu spun in the air as she avoided the spears of light being sent towards her by Mima, the ghost determined to use this moment to end the trainee for once and for all. Reimu landed roughly on Genji, the little girl barely falling off his shell as his body tilted from the existence of her weight. Reimu looked at Genji, the holy turtle blinking in confusion as his memory was beginning to return to him after nearly being blasted into nothing but magical energy. Genji blinked a bit faster as he memory returned to this moment, the turtle mentally returning to reality.

"Lady Reimu?" Genji asked.

"Genji, unless if you want to be blasted by some more danmaku, you should start flying right now!" Reimu yelled, the trainee not needing to look to know that there already were some more of those light spears shooting towards her and Genji.

The holy animal had fortunately obeyed, dodging the spears with his master/trainee.

"GRR, why won't you just accept death and die?!" Mima yelled, the ghost throwing her sceptre at Reimu, the item spinning around as it went faster than Genji. The turtle temporarily lowered him and Reimu to avoid the staff, though it didn't change it from freezing in the air and shooting star-shaped danmaku at him and her. "I mean look at me! I'm a ghost and I'm quite alright at it!"

Mima was suddenly hit in the side of her spectral head with a large, star-shaped danmaku. The ghost glared where the piece of danmaku came from, seeing Marisa floating on her broom. "How dare you act so insolent! Even if you are no longer my protégé, that doesn't mean that you can just attack me!" Mima yelled. The ghost's words had hurt Marisa in the heart, the fact that the ghost was relinquishing her position as her student had hurt when it was exactly Mima that made her feel special. "I can't believe you! Though it is obviously my fault, I should have known more than to believe in the concept of trust. You can never trust anyone in this world. Or in any other world."

"I'm sorry, Mima, but you've gone crazy. Well, too crazy." Marisa yelled, the magician miraculously having enough power to dodge the multicoloured star danmaku that Mima was shooting at her, the green-haired madwoman having created a large magic circle to shoot out the star danmaku. "You need to calm down. I still want to be your student, I still want to learn everything I can about magic from you, but I'm afraid that even I know that you need to stopped. You've gone insane!"

"How dare you think that!" Mima yelled, glaring angrily at the red-haired maiden. "I am perfectly in the right mi-!"

Mima was hit by holy danmaku and ofuda, the ghost looking at Reimu and Genji. "You can't fight forever, Mima. Eventually even a ghost like you will become exhausted and can no longer fight." Reimu said, shooting more danmaku and ofuda at Reimu.

"Don't be ridiculous, you silly little child. I can fight forever!" Mima said, smirking at the trainee. Though, even though she wouldn't want to admit it, ever or at all, she was beginning to feel tired from all of the magic she was using in this battle. Mima then frowned, might as well be as good a time as ever to unleash the ultimate card that she has been keeping up her sleeve the entire time. "But, if you really do believe that I can no longer fight, then I guess that stands to a good reason of you wanting to face my strongest, most destructive spell."

Marisa's face went pale as the blood drained for her face, and if it was possible for Genji's face to turn pale then it would. Reimu, however, remained calm, for she had no reason to fear Mima's strongest spell, for she has never seen or heard it.

"Y-you don't mean the Twilight...?!" Genji muttered, his pupils shaking in fear of such a tremendous and deadly attack.

"Yes, the Twilight Spark!" Mima yelled proudly, the ghost flying up into the air until she was blocking out the orange sky of Reimaden, at least from Reimu's perspective. Mima raised her sceptre high into the air and stretched out her wings. "My most infamous spell, one of the countless spells that I created that got me written into the history books. Of course I'm the only one that knows it, the only being that should be capable of using one of the greatest spells in all of existence should be the one that invented it. Or at least someone that knows how to use it correctly."

"What is Twilight Spark?" Reimu asked, still not fearing this spell as she still was told nothing about this so-called infamous spell.

"A great and magnificent spell that has blasted entire countries off the face of the world. Countless lives have been eradicated by the mighty glory of this spell." Mima answered in prideful gusto, the ghost growing a huge grin as she looked at the shrine maiden trainee. Mima opened a palm, an orb of dim light floating above the palm, barely even the size of a pea. Mima then raised the orb into the air until it was completely out of sight. Then, in the far away distance of the sky, it appeared again, looking a lot bigger. "But just talking about it won't teach or show you anything. No, instead I'll show you what it is. You should feel lucky, I'm giving you an up close view of my ultimate spell; it'll be right at you."

"Reimu grab onto my shell. Grab onto it as tightly as you can." Genji warned, the turtle's face changing from scared to serious.

"Why?" Reimu asked. Though the trainee was too focussed looking at her guardian spirit, she could still tell that the sphere Mima created was growing bigger and bigger by the second.

"Because I'm going to fly faster than I have ever flown before, and holding on may be your only way to not fall off and die in the blast of the Twilight Spark." The turtle-like being explained, keeping his eyes on Mima. Reimu looked back up at the aforementioned ghost, her eyes widening as the sphere of dim light was now ginormous, being even bigger than the mountains in the distance.

"Feast your eyes, Hakurei Maiden, for this will be the last sight you see." Mima said, outstretching her arms to her side, somewhat mimicking a holy crucifix. The dim sphere was seemingly covering the entire sky, and what it wasn't covering was also gaining a dim hue. One of Mima's arms dropped to her side as she bent the elbow of another, the thumb and middle finger of the hand attached to the arm pressing against each other. "So should truly feel honoured. Many other Hakureis haven't lived to see such a magnificent spell, to get the honour of being blasted into atoms and even smaller particles by my amazing magnum opus. May this twilight light shine on you, and end you."

Mima snapped her fingers, a tremendous laser of twilight light shooting out of the dim sphere, albeit the laser was only equal to a small but of the sphere, but still big enough to envelop Reimu and Genji completely. Genji immediately rocketed away as the laser was obviously aimed at him and Reimu, the laser growing bigger and bigger as it continued to fire, becoming more equal to the size of the sphere that it came from, seemingly chasing after Reimu and Genji as the duo were being flown away from it.

The laser made a loud, blaring sound it continued to blast and grow. It was certainly good that there was no native wild life to the small, country-like dimension of Reimaden, as everything caught in the gigantic laser of the Twilight Spark was blasted into oblivion. The trees, the ground, everything was being eradicated. Even the mountains in the distance were enveloped in the dim laser, being reduced to nothing but tiny, miniature-sized pebbles at best.

"Lady Reimu, use the Fantasy Seal!" Genji yelled as he was flying faster than he had ever flown before, barely escaping the laser for himself and the purple and white trainee. "Do it now!"

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, summoning the regular six holy spheres of mass destruction. The spheres flew towards Mima as she remained somewhere in front of her dim sphere, though out of the range of the laser, her arms crossed over her chest as she smirked. The ghost quickly noticed the attack, summoning a sphere of a translucent green colour around her spectral body to protect herself. The shield protected Mima from the Fantasy Seal, though cracks had still appeared on the shield.

"Ha, you're not going to survive against me~!" Mima said. The ghost could suddenly hear a sound akin to tapping to the side of her shield, the ghost looking to see that Marisa was firing magic stars at her. Mima sighed in annoyance, outstretching an arm towards the girl, even though the shield wasn't one-sided. A magic circle appeared outside of the shield, shooting star-shaped danmaku at the red-haired little girl, the danmaku, hitting the young magician and causing her to fall to the ground. "And that's enough of you, Marisa."

As Mima put her attention back towards the trainee that she was wanting to kill to gain the sacred Hakurei powers, Marisa continued to fall to the ground without her aware. Marisa was temporarily unconscious, her broomstick still somewhat in her hand as she lost her grip. Marisa quickly awakened, the maiden noticing that she was falling head first for the ground at high speeds. Marisa grabbed onto her broom and used what was left of her magic to make it stop and float in the air, stopping Marisa's fall, even if the sudden force almost caused her to let go. The broomstick slowly lowered to the ground as Marisa layed back on it, the broom still hovering over the ground. Marisa made the flying broom begin to fly away as the Twilight Spark was even starting to near on her, the witch looking at the purple-haired trainee that was riding her flying turtle for survival.

" _It's all up to you, Reimu._ " Marisa thought as the witch continued to fly, watching Reimu cast another Fantasy Seal towards Mima, though the ghost was still mostly protected by her shield. " _You're the only one that can still fight._ "

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, casting gods know how many of the same attack against the ghost. Regardless of the number, Reimu was growing exhausted. Even with the extra energy that Mima gave her because of her desire of a good fight, everything that Reimu has done throughout the day has begun taking its toll on her. "I don't know how much longer I can cast a Fantasy Seal; I can't fight for much longer."

Genji looked at Mima as he continued to fly away from her Twilight Spark, noticing the her shield was covered in cracks, even looking completely as a pile of cracked pieces stuck together as a sphere. "Pour all of your energy into the next Fantasy Seal, Lady Reimu." Genji said. "Mima's shield is barely standing, and if you can barely cast another Fantasy Seal then pour all the energy that you have into the next Fantasy Seal. Even if it's a infinitesimal hope, it's still a hope, and it must be taken."

Reimu just felt tired. So, so tired. Her eyes felt heavy and she just wanted to sleep back in the shrine, under some comfy blankets. She is still a little girl, after all. However, this was for everyone; for all of Gensokyo and beyond. She knew, despite being so tired, she should still do this.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled once again, pouring the last inches of her energy into the attack. There was something different about Reimu's voice as she announced the attack, a certain new kind of power. Mima's Twilight Spark, the massively powerful and destructive spell destroying what was left of Reimaden, had broken apart into magical energy returning back into the ether. Mima's shield broke by an unknown and invisible force, leaving the ghost confused and incredulous.

"What just...?!" The ghost muttered. Suddenly there were cards wrapped around her arms, glowing with a multitude of colours. These cards were also wrapped around her body and ghostly tail, somehow able to retrain her from moving, even though she was technically no longer a being of physical existence. "What?!"

Glowing spheres surrounded Reimu again, like when she usually uses the Fantasy Seal, but this time there were more surrounding her, with even more floating around in a circle motion around Mima. The ghost's eyes widened, recognising this as the full power of the Fantasy Seal. The green-haired sorceress tried to escape, tried to teleport, but the cards tied around her were seemingly negating her magic.

There was nothing that Mima could do outside of closing her eyes and hoping that the attack won't sting.

The multiple spheres of the Fantasy Seal hit Mima, creating a gigantic explosion that could be felt throughout all of Reimaden. A large cloud of smoke came from the explosion. Mima and her sceptre fell from the cloud of smoke, the ghost hitting the ground as she could no longer fight, her crescent staff laying next to her, breaking into pieces that turned back into ether; a sign that the witch ghost no longer had any magic left in her for the time being.

Mima couldn't move her ghostly body, her eyes looking up at the sky of Reimaden in disbelief. She was defeated. She had regained her true power that had made her name infamous and feared, even among some of the gods, and yet she still lost to a little girl; a trainee of the Hakurei Shrine.

"It's... finally over." Reimu said, exhausted, laying down on Genji's shell, her arms outstretched and leaning slightly over the front of the turtle. Her eyes were closed, the idea of falling asleep was very tempting, not helped by the fact that it felt like she was being pulled into the world of the sleeping. But, as if by some divine power that didn't want her to sleep yet, she had opened her eyes and remained awake. It wasn't that she was tired and had bags under her eyes, it was just that she has been using all of her energy like crazy throughout the day and now feels exhausted. The purple-haired trainee began turning her head from side to side, looking at Reimaden.

Well, what was remaining of Reimaden, at least.

The outcome of the battle between Reimu and Mima (and on a lesser scale, Reimu and Marisa) had left the dimension barren. There were barely any trees at all that weren't on fire or broken apart in some form; hell, most of the trees were barely together or just reduced to burning splinters. There were countless craters in the ground, some deep as an abyss, some having burning fires within them, and some were suffering of both cases. The mountains were completely destroyed and most of the ground was no more as it too was destroyed by the magical attacks that were used.

It was a good thing that there were no native animals to Reimaden, at least as far as Reimu is sure (as well as she hopes), because nothing would really be able to live and thrive from what remains of the dimension.

"Well this place is an utter wreck." Reimu commented. The trainee heard a little sound of something slowly moving through the air, the little girl turning her head to see Marisa flying towards her on her broomstick, albeit slowly. She was still in one piece and still alive. Granted, she obviously looked exhausted and had multiple bruises on her body with slight tears to her clothes, but she was still alive and living. Reimu smiled at Marisa, though the maiden's smile was weak from how tired she was left from her long adventure. "You're still alive, good. I thought that you might have died when Mima unleashed that Twilight Spark spell. I'm quite happy that you didn't die."

"Yeah, I guess I'm happy that you're still alive as well." Marisa responded, the red-haired witch looking at something behind Reimu and Genji. The aforementioned duo turned around, seeing Mima. The green-haired ghost was still lying on the ground, though she was now crying, her hands over her eyes. Reimu and Genji looked back at Marisa, the witch made a nervous swallow with a nervous expression that neither have ever seen before. Marisa looked at Reimu, the same nervous looking her eyes with a sense of uncertainty in them. "So... um. I know that Mima has... y'know, and I have... Well... UGH, this is so annoying...!"

Genji sighed, knowing what was going on in Marisa's head. "You want to talk to Mima, don't you?" The ancient, turtle-like entity said dryly, giving Marisa an unemotional look. The uncanny look of being nervous was on Marisa even more, the witch having absolutely no idea what to do. Nothing was at all expected and today was just a huge train wreck after another. Genji sighed again. "Be careful of what you do, Child. Make the wrong decisions in life and everything will spiral out of control, and you may never be able to escape it even if you try."

Genji floated above the ground, the holy spirit and the shrine maiden trainee flying through the portal between Reimaden and the World of Empty Dreams. The two had disappeared, allowing Marisa to look at Mima. The protégé made a dubious swallow and sigh, using what remains of her magic to float the broomstick (with her on top of it) towards the crying ghost.

* * *

Defeated. She was defeated. Her, Mima, a legendary master of magic that is meant to be above all others. She had proven herself to be superior to countless other masters of magic, had made countless spells and grimoires that so many had wished to obtain. The many Hakurei shrine maidens, fully grown and masters of their practice, that she had fought in the past had either defeated her or died, but even when they won she proved to be a great test of their power.

Then she came around, that Reimu Hakurei. She was nothing more than a trainee, a little girl, and most of all she was the last member of the Hakurei family.

Victory was meant to fall into her fingers, after so long she could finally achieve the vengeance she has wanted against humanity. Vengeance that she had, admittedly, forgotten over the many years but still wanted to commit nevertheless.

And, even though she had trained extra hard and even got minions that she trained hard for what should be the easiest accomplishment of her life, she still failed. Even when she, the Great Mima of the Arcane Arts, had joined the fray, she still lost.

She had gone crazy, being denied power that was rightfully hers had caused her to reach her limit. She had gone insane, she even wanted to kill Marisa for failing her. She wanted to hurt one of the few beings she cared about.

What was the point anymore? Is there still a point to trying to gain the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs? Is there still a point in trying to obtain ultimate power? The point is that, even after gaining back her powers and becoming stronger than ever before (even if slightly), she had still lost to a little girl that is a trainee of the Hakurei family.

Mima began to tear up. It had been so many years since she felt the emotion of sadness, centuries since there was ever a moment when she needed to cry. Her chest hurt as tears flooded through her eyes, the ghost covering her eyes with her spectral hands.

She was crying. It had been so many years since Mima had cried, she couldn't stop the tears at all. The ghost was unaware of the world around her, she was too caught up in her sadness to care or notice what Reimu and Marisa were doing.

She just continued to cry. And cry. And cry. And cry.

Then, she felt a little hand touch her on the arm. Mima slowly moved her hands away and opened her lacrimal eyes. Everything was blurry at first because of her tears, but it all eventually cleared up. She could see the destroyed remains of her former headquarters, mostly a result because of her little rampage. She would have to find somewhere else to live... metaphorically.

And... she could also see Marisa, her former student kneeling down and looking at her sadly. "Hey..." The red-haired little girl said, her voice a tender tone that Mima had never heard from her before. "Are you... okay?"

That feeling of sadness, the uncontrollable desire to cry coming back at full force. "Why?" Was all that Mima could say with a broken voice. The ghost began to cry again, the young human next to her merely staying by her side, trying to comfort the ghost that is known for being merciless.

And throughout all this, there was a metal bird that had miraculously remained undestroyed throughout Mima's little rampage, the camera that the bird had for a head being able to collect all of the data from the battle, as well as the current data of what is happening right now.

* * *

Yumemi and Chiyuri were in the main surveillance room of the Probability Space Hypervessel, both the teenage professor and student watching it intently. "Interesting. Very, very interesting." Yumemi muttered, the red-haired scientist rubbing her chin as she watched the never before seen phenomenon of a ghost crying. There were many things about Gensokyo and its neighbour dimensions that interested Yumemi, but this was still something that she had never seen before. Yumemi then looked at Chiyuri. "What do you think those tears are like? Are they like the regular tears that living beings like you and I cry, or are they ectoplasmic like she is? Or do you think they are a bit of both?"

"Um, I would pick answer C. Honestly I don't remember any book or movie or whatever that I have read or seen that has included a ghost crying. I just assumed that ghosts were incapable of crying." The blonde student answered. "But damn that magic fight, it was hella awesome, and we got a ton of magic data from it. This was a good and productive day."

"Yeah, though that Mima ghost is something else entirely; we should definitely take her back with us. We'll even take that purple-haired little girl that defeated her as well; her latent magic power is something awesome on a new level, it must be researched and worshipped, just like it deserves." Yumemi responded, the woman tapping on the keys of her keyboard, commanding the Strawberry Bird to return to the Probability Space Hypervessel. "However, even with all of the data we have collected, it still isn't enough research. I believe that it's time that we met up with the little tank girl. Don't you agree, Chiyuri?"

"Indeed." Chiyuri responded.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Woo-wee, isn't this a long chapter? Granted, I've made even longer, but hey, at least you now know that I wasn't lying when I said that I could write a 10,000+ words long chapter in the first chapter.**

 **Honestly, I didn't expect this chapter to be so long, especially as it's mostly a battle. Sorry if this ended up as rushed in any way, I wanted this to be around the 5,000 word average that the chapters have been having as of late, but this chapter (specifically the battle against Mima) just didn't want to end.**

 **I kind of conceptualised the last scene between Marisa and Mima before I started writing this chapter, but I also ended up deciding to have Marisa aid Reimu in fighting Mima, so hey I hope that things didn't come off as convoluted or anything. Mima will of course return (I mean, she does appear as a playable character in later games, and she seems to be in a good relationship with Marisa in those games), but she will now be on the 'good' side. That is, she'll no longer be doing any evil deeds and will just resort to making pranks and whatnot. And she'll be on a friendly relationship (for lack of a better word) with Reimu and such.**

 **Anyhow, this chapter has been long and you can expect the battle against Rika and the Evil Eye Sigma to be next. Will it also be very long? Will it be the regular 5,000 word average like the other chapters? We'll have to see.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are allowed and welcomed.**

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"Stupid shrine maiden. Stupid Mima. Stupid magic in general." Rika grumbled as she kicked a piece of scrap angrily, stomping around her warehouse. It was apparent news that Reimu had defeated Mima, the news angering Rika after she put all her trust in the ghost to make her the Queen of Monsters. The engineer was in a warehouse that she owns, filled with unfinished tanks that were inferior to her Flower-Tank, little generators that she had used to make her artificial Bakebake, and even a few sentry robots.

Speaking of Rika's Bakebake, the fake ghosts were flying everywhere. It was a lucky thing that Rika didn't leave anything valuable or breakable like a vase or whatnot lying around, because the Bakebake were bumping into everything near them, even the walls of the warehouse.

As Rika was being mad and kicking everything near her feet around and throwing wrenches at the wall, the door to her warehouse suddenly opened up. Rika looked at the open door, seeing two teenage girls; one with red hair and red clothes while the other was blonde in a sailor uniform.

"Who the Hell are you two?! What are you doing here?!" Rika yelled, in too much of a rotten mood to tolerate the presence of others, especially as most people say insulting things about her and her love for science. Neither of the two girls said anything, merely walking into Rika's warehouse with a smirk on their faces. Rika growled at the two girls, pointing at them. "Sentries, Bakebake, destroy them!"

The robot sentries pointed at the two girls, prepared to destroy them. One of the girls, the one in the sailor uniform, pulled out a small device from her apparent pocket, shooting out a laser from it, destroying some of the sentries. The other sentries were destroyed by the other girl, though she decided to use some red crosses instead of the device that the blonde girl used. Rika widened her eyes in fear, looking at her Bakebake in hope that they would help her.

The artificial ghosts were still bumping around aimlessly, seemingly unaware of what was going on.

"W-who are you two?" Rika stuttered out, trying to remain calm, though it was hard when all her machines were either broken or weren't working, not to mention her pathetically weak magic level. These girls, on the other hand, were on a completely different level than her. She really had no chance against them. "What are you two here f-for?"

"Relax, relax. We are here to talk to you. This could be beneficial for you." The red-haired woman said, giving Rika a slight bow. "I am Yumemi Okazaki, a resident of the Outside World. The girl beside me is Chiyuri, another resident from the Outside World, and my assistant."

"Hey." Chiyuri said nonchalantly, giving Rika a nonchalant wave.

"We came here through the power of science; we hold technology that even someone like you can't imagine in even your wildest dreams." Yumemi explained, intriguing Rika. "We come here with the other of you using our machinery to make a tank that makes every past accomplishment of yours look like trash in comparison. All that we request is that you help us with something. Think of it as a quid pro quo."

Rika was silent, processing this new information. "I'm listening." Rika responded, a smile growing on her face. Yumemi and Chiyuri also smiled, their grins even bigger than Rika's, especially Yumemi's.


	17. The Tank Girl's Dream

It has been about over a week since Reimu (and Marisa) fought against Mima, the shrine maiden trainee relaxing like that very nearly fatal day (chock-full with many moments where she could have lost her young, little life) never happened at all as she admired the nice weather. Reimu hadn't seen neither Mima, Marisa or anyone else that was involved with Mima's plot to kill her ever since that day. It mostly didn't worry Reimu outside of the ghost and her (former?) protégé; there was a niggling fear in the back of her head that the ghost might come back for vengeance (again), and Reimu had barely managed to defeat her, even with Marisa's help.

As for Marisa herself, Reimu was worried for what has happened to her. There was a possibility that Marisa might be living with her parents again, a thought that Reimu liked to entertain. The main problem was that Reimu doesn't usually go down to the Human Village, and even then she doesn't know where Marisa and her parents live. The Hakurei Shrine on the other hand is known throughout Gensokyo, so Marisa could just visit Reimu whenever she wanted; that made Reimu slightly worried that her friend could no be safe.

And even then, even if Marisa is with her parents again, is she safe from Mima?

Helping Reimu could have gotten Marisa on Mima's bad side, meaning that Marisa will probably also be a target for Mima, if she isn't already killed by the ghost.

Reimu sighed, putting some mochi in her mouth. It was best to not think such scary thoughts, especially as today has been such a nice day.

"Lady Hakurei, you seem a bit off today." An old-sounding male voice said from Reimu's side, the purple-haired trainee casually looking to her side to see Genji, the old turtle slightly wet as he must have recently came out from the pond. "Is something bothering you?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Reimu responded, looking out at the nearly clear sky, letting the tranquillity of the azure sky calm her of her troublesome nerves. "Just thoughts about some of the past few days."

"Mima?" Genji asked. Reimu sensed, her response being enough of an answer for the ancient and holy being. "It's okay, Lady Reimu. I know we didn't exorcize Mima from existence like we planned, but I don't doubt that such a defeat must have truly left her defeated."

Reimu looked at Genji, letting out a sigh before looking at the torii gate. "I guess you're right, it's just that... OOOH, Meira~." Reimu's eyes suddenly turned into stars, the girl looking happily at the entrance of the Hakurei Shrine. Genji looked towards where Reimu was looking, seeing Meira there, the samurai having her sword out. "Are you here to consider that we could be together."

"No, I am here for revenge." Meira responded, keeping her sword out. An evil grin appeared on the purple-haired woman's face. "And I brought back up with me."

Noroiko and Matenshi appeared at Meira's right and left side respectively, the bat-like humanoids also reappearing behind the trio as they were flying slightly above the ground behind them, though they were taller than the woman either ways.

"You may have been able to beat us alone, but you can't beat all of us." Meira said.

"You'll be left cursed to have your bones left frozen at the joints and feeling immense pain, especially as Meira is slashing you with her swords and the bats are eating at your flesh." Noroiko said with an evil smile, holding out an open and flat palm with a black orb of pure curse power floating above it.

"The power of justice can never be stopped!" Matenshi yelled, the angel-like youkai seemingly believing that what she was doing was for good.

"Your flesh will make an excellent meal." The leader bat youkai said, the other bats seemingly making squeaking sounds in agreement.

"Surely not all of you can gain the power of the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orb, right?" Reimu asked, a sweat-drop falling down the side of her head; she was honestly less concerned about their threats and more that they all wanted to kill her. "I know that the process of killing me lends the killer the powers of the Hakurei, since I'm the only Hakurei left, but I think it can only go to one person."

"He don't give a crap about those Hakurei powers of yours. Well, I don't." Noroiko responded, the red-haired youkai making her orb of curses disappear. "The point is that we joined an alliance with Mima so she would grant our greatest desires if we brought you to her on a silver platter, but you beat us, and then you beat Mima herself. This is just nothing pure than pure revenge."

"That sounds rather evil if you ask me." Reimu responded, a bead of sweat dropping down the side of her head once again.

"Duh, it's 'cause we are evil." One of the bat youkai responded brazenly.

"Huh, you youkai seem to be very straightforward." Meira commented, the samurai beginning to understand that she had spent little time around youkai. Though it is not like she cared about youkai that much, they were nothing in comparison to the pride of her clan.

"It's because we youkai aren't afraid of our true intentions and nature, unlike you humans." Noroiko responded. "We don't beat about the bush, we just get to the point because such worries are a human concept."

"Aren't you youkai technically born of human concepts?" Meira asked, raising an eyebrow towards her youkai comrades.

"Evil is the only true justice." Matenshi said, like she was part of the conversation.

Meira shook her head from side to side. "Whatever, these discussions about youkai and how they work doesn't matter." Meira said, the samurai looking towards Reimu, once again pointing her sword towards the purple-haired trainee. Noroiko, the bat youkai and Matenshi smiled evilly at Reimu, the curse youkai making orbs of curse power appearing her hands again, the bats outstretching their wings and barring their fangs, the angel-like youkai making tiny spheres of holy light appearing her hands. Reimu blinked at the dangerous youkai and woman in front of her. "Now then, let's get to-KYAAAA!"

There was a sudden explosion behind Meira and the youkai, the aforementioned supernatural entities being destroyed by the explosion, though it didn't matter much as they are immortal youkai. Meira, one the other hand, was alive as she was sent flying over the Hakurei shrine, screaming. There was a splash sound coming from behind the Hakurei shrine, it was quite obvious that Meira had landed in the pond behind the shrine, so she should definitely be alive.

Reimu looked back at the entrance of the shrine, the little girl being surprised by the sight she saw.

There was a giant, black eye; the iris coloured red and bloodshot. It had two large, purple wings and two large, purple tentacles. It was wearing a green dress, having a halo above its head and the sigma symbol (Σ) on the lower eyelid in red. It was a little hard to see, but on the side of the creature was a red silhouette of a strawberry with the words 'STRAWBERRY INC.' written there.

A piece of the top of the eye opened, revealing Rika. The engineer was dressed differently; wearing a strange, red hat with fake horns, the girl also wearing a purple dress with a red ribbon.

"Ah, hello there, Reimu. Like the new look?" Rika said to the shrine maiden trainee, grinning from ear to ear. "Meet my new ultimate creation, my new magnum opus: The Evil Eye Sigma, the strongest tank in the world.

 **The Ultimate Tank**

 **Evil Eye Sigma**

The Evil Eye Sigma remained silent as it continued to hover in the air, most likely because it's a tank without any real personality or sentience.

"So what do you think now?" Rika asked, grinning smugly.

"It looks really cool~!" Reimu answered, stars were once again in her eyes.

"Lady Reimu, that thing is not to be admired; it will destroy us otherwise!" Genji yelled angrily at the trainee.

"Haha! I know, it looks pretty fricking badass, doesn't it?" Rika responded, ignoring Genji, for he was of no importance to her. "And it's not only cool-looking, but it's incredibly strong. You remember that explosion that killed those youkai and sent Meira flying into the water? That was done by this beauty right here; one missile. And I've got plenty more missiles and even stronger attacks up my sleeve. Or should I say the Sigma's sleeve. Hahaha, with this masterpiece of mine, I'm already queen of the monsters."

"Oh, so I guess you don't need to fight me with that thing, don't you?" Reimu responded, flippant of the current situation.

"No, not really." Rika responded, crossing her arms and resting them against the piece of the Sigma that was near them. The engineer had a somewhat bored expression as she rested her arms against the Sigma, though her expression soon turned into a big smile. "But just because I don't need to doesn't mean that I wouldn't. I still want to get some revenge against you for destroying the precious tanks and monsters that I put my heart and soul, my blood, sweat and tears into creating. Besides, the two blessed girls that gave me the resources want me to fight you so they can gain more data of magic."

"Wait, what?" Reimu and Genji asked.

"It's not important for you." Rika said, giving a dismissive wave of her hand. The brown-haired woman slid down back into the eye, the opening piece of the head closing. Rika's voice could be heard from an invisible speaker on the Evil Eye Sigma, though it sounded slightly different. " _Alright, trainee, let's see the full capabilities of what this baby can do._ "

The bottom eyelid with the red sigma opened sideways in two pieces, showing six cannon barrels. "Lady Reimu, I think now is a good time to get on my back." Genji said with a slight tone of nervousness in his voice, not taking his widened eyes off the barrels that remained pointed at him and the trainee.

"Yeah, I think that's ideal." Reimu responded, the purple-eyed shrine maiden trainee using her link to the Yin-Yang Orb to make it float towards her, turning into two smaller duplicates. Reimu got onto Genji's back, the turtle-like being floating into the air, far above the shrine. The Evil Eye Sigma was seemingly tracking the two, keeping its barrels on them. That was good, it was better than the Sigma sending its missiles towards the shrine and destroying it. Genji continued to float up until he and Reimu were on an even level with Rika and the Evil Eye Sigma.

The odd-looking, flying tank shot its missiles towards Reimu and Genji, the shrine maiden trainee throwing ofuda at the oncoming objects, the magical paper charms managing to hit the missiles with enough strength to make them explode, creating a large cloud of smoke that engulfed Reimu and Genji.

The human and holy spirit coughed as the smoke got into their mouths. Reimu swatted at the empty air with her gohei, clearing away the smoke. Reimu looked where the Evil Eye Sigma was meant to be, but found that it wasn't where it was earlier.

"Where did...?" Reimu muttered, the little girl soon feeling an odd and large presence behind her.

" _Peek-a-boo._ " Rika said from behind Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee turning around to see a giant, red eye looking at her from up close. Tiny, little pieces of the Evil Eye Sigma suddenly opened, showing little barrels. Genji flew away with Reimu on his back, the turtle helping the purple-haired maiden escape the lasers that shot out of the small barrels that came out of the Sigma. The lasers were hot, nearly burning at Reimu's skin as they grazed her body.

Rika watched the two fly away from her tank to a safe distance from within the Evil Eye Sigma, sitting on a comfy, armless chair as she was surrounded by buttons, switches and knobs, watching the holy duo through a screen that was shaped like the Sigma's eye, showing a ton of data that was being collected from what the eye was seeing, a feature built in by Yumemi and Chiyuri so they could collect magic data from the Sigma. Rika didn't care though, she had achieved in creating the tank of her dreams.

Reimu and Genji stopped as they were sure they were far enough away from Rika and her tank, the former firing danmaku bullets at the eye-shaped tank. Rika laughed as the danmaku hit the tank, only making little pinging sounds; absolutely no damage to the Sigma at all.

"Hit me with as many of those little bullets of yours as you want, you'll never even dent the Evil Eye Sigma." Rika said, pressing buttons and pulling levers, the dress-wearing tank she was operating firing its own barrage of danmaku at the two in retaliation. "And don't think about pulling that Fantasy Seal trick on me again, even that will be futile against the Evil Eye."

Back outside of the Evil Eye Sigma, Reimu and Genji were having trouble avoiding the barrage of white bullets Rika was sending towards them, not helped by the fact that the tank she was operating was moving around as it fired bullets.

"Sheesh, she might be even tougher than Mima." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee continuing to fire danmaku at the Evil Eye Sigma; it seemed like a meaningless effort, but it didn't waste energy and it seemed like the only thing she could do. The trainee grit her teeth as Rika sent more missiles towards her and Genji, the little girl reaching into her inner power. "Fantasy Seal!"

The maiden and the flying turtle she was riding being surrounded by glowing yin-yang, the holy attacks flying towards the Evil Eye Sigma at high speeds, exploding on contact. Of course, the tank was covered by a cloud of smoke, the smoke clearing away to reveal the Evil Eye Sigma, still in perfect shape. Rika could be heard laughing from inside the Sigma, sounding haughty.

" _Hahaha! See? I told you: it's pointless to use that attack when you can't hurt me._ " The engineer said from within the tank. A small crack suddenly appeared on the Sigma's eyes; it wasn't huge, only a small crack along the sclera, but it was still noticed by everyone. " _Uh, okay that happened. No matter, I know that attack isn't easy for you to use and it only did a small scratch. Victory is still sitting in my palm, Hahahahahaha!_ "

"Don't give up, Lady Reimu." Genji said, flying away from more danmaku and missiles that were being sent towards him and the maiden. "We've managed to damage her tank in a way, we've managed to find something akin to a weakness; a weakness that we must exploit."

"You're right." Reimu agreed, giving Genji a slight nod before looking back at the Evil Eye Sigma, the dress-wearing tank firing even more of its seemingly infinite supply of missiles. "I'll have to keep on hitting that crack in its eye, then it should be defeated one way or another."

Genji flew out of the way of the endless missiles, allowing Reimu to continue shooting danmaku at the tank in its crack. Rika had seemingly noticed that they found a weakness they put on her tank, the engineer ceasing her laughing and trying to fly the tank out of the way of Reimu's danmaku. Or at least just the part of the tank with the crack.

" _Okay, so you caused a little crack in my magnum opus. I still have ways around you._ " Rika said through the Evil Eye Sigma's invisible speaker. A ton of rockets and guns suddenly appeared from the Evil Eye Sigma. " _I have more than enough ammunition to turn you into tiny, little Hakurei confetti~._ "

Everything was all but a blur as bullets fired from the guns and rockets shot from the Sigma. Genji flew around at high speeds as the fast-moving bullets were cutting through the air and the large missiles, even though they were big and slower than the bullets, they were still incredibly fast. The world was a blurry picture as the air was almost cutting through Reimu's skin with the speed they were moving, it almost seemed like the world was spinning around off its axis as Genji turned upside down and sideways as he avoided the attacks being sent towards him and Reimu by Rika, the purple-hared maiden almost feeling her fingers fall off from how tightly she was having to hold onto the ancient being's shell.

Genji had suddenly stopped moving, Reimu landed on her stomach on Genji's hard shell, the shrine maiden trainee almost feeling sick from a powerful sensation of vertigo. Reimu had shook her head from side to side shortly thereafter, no longer feeling like she was going to upheave everything she has eaten from her mouth. Reimu looked down at Genji, glaring at the turtle.

"You could have at least given me a bit of a warning before you did that." Reimu said.

"There was no time to warn you, I was barely able to get us out of the way as it was." Genji responded, still looking forward; towards the Evil Eye Sigma. "And you could at least thank me for saving your life."

"Right, right, sorry." Reimu apologised, rubbing Genji atop the head in an attempt to make the turtle feel happier. It worked as Genji made a little sound of feeling happier, though he quickly became serious again as he looked towards the Evil Eye Sigma, the giant tank simply floating in the air, doing nothing.

" _Well, seems like I used up my entire supply of bullets and missiles. Bummer._ " Rika said from within the dress-wearing tank, the disappointment deep in her voice. " _Whatever, my supply of danmaku is nearly infinite, if not outright infinite. This artificial magic generator I was given is awesome, I am so totally queen of the monsters with this awesome creation of mine._ "

"She sure is prideful, isn't she?" Reimu commented.

"Indeed." Genji responded.

Rika cleared her throat, trying and succeeding in getting Reimu and Genji back on subject. " _Anyways, as I said, with this artificial magic generator I can generate a near infinite number of danmaku. Danmaku that can be in virtually any shape or form that I wish._ " Rika said, the sense of pride in her voice returning. " _Sure, they aren't as powerful or as fast as my missiles, or my bullets, but they'll still have to do._ "

Giant danmaku in the form of spheres shot from the eye of the Sigma, shooting out in a big barrage that was aimed at all directions. Despite being far less complex than many other danmaku patterns that Genji had dodged, the turtle was still having trouble avoiding the artificial magic bullets because of the sheer density and speed of the bullets.

" _Hah, how do you like that?!_ " Rika shouted frim within the Sigma, the flying tank continuing to shoot its high density bullets. " _If you think that_ this _is enough, then check out these powerful babies!_ "

Genji and Reimu then felt a strange amount of energy, one that felt similar to the energy of magic, suddenly begin to charge next to them. There was an odd sound of a whir in the air, the odd energy building up becoming even more powerful than before. Genji's reflex instincts began to move into play, the turtle flying himself and the shrine maiden trainee away from the whir of odd energy. The magic-like energy became immensely dense, causing an explosion of the artificial magic to happen where the energy build up was.

Reimu and Genji looked at the explosion in awe, looking back at the Evil Eye Sigma, the giant, flying tank still shooting danmaku towards them from its eye. " _Impressive, isn't it?_ " Rika said pridefully, the engineer still operating the complex tank as she talked in her pride, though it would always slow down a little bit. Gloating probably takes up a lot of attention, even if you're a smart engineer. " _I call those Concentrated Magic Bombs; using the artificial magic generator, I can concentrate the fake magic into a specific area where it becomes highly condensed, turning into an explosion of pure, artificial magic as a result._ "

"So she really does have a few more tricks up her sleeve." Reimu commented, the shrine maiden trainee having to duck down as the bullets flew over her. Reimu began to fire danmaku at the Evil Eye Sigma, aimed primarily at the eyes scratch, the same scratch that the Sigma was trying to avoid getting hit. "I guess I'll just have to defeat her before she unleashes all of the tricks."

Reimu's holy danmaku continued to hit the Evil Eye Sigma, the magic projectiles doing little to no damage to its black armour. Reimu bit her lip in annoyance, staying on Genji as the turtle continued to avoid the magic bullets and Concentrated Magic Bombs that were being sent towards him and Reimu, the constant magic attacks grazing at him and Reimu.

"Gramps, you need to get me in front of the eye." Reimu said as Genji continued to dodge the dense and fast danmaku and Concentrated Magic Bombs. "I need to hit the eye 'cause I know it's the only place that I can damage with my bullets, at least where the scratch is."

"It's a little hard to do that, Lady Reimu. I think it could be possible, but it will be far from easy." Genji muttered as Rika made the Evil Eye Sigma change its danmaku pattern, though the Concentrated Magic Bombs remained the same. The danmaku bullets were now far smaller, though many more bullets were being fired in exchange. It was surprisingly easier to manoeuvre through the many more danmaku that was being shot, even with the constant Concentrated Magic Bombs exploding near him and Reimu. "Quick, Lady Reimu, fire away. This is your chance, take it now!"

Reimu immediately fired danmaku towards the cracks on the eye of the Sigma, the cracks widening and deepening as the holy bullets hit the fake eye in rapid succession. It was soon that the crack began to take up one entire side of the Sigma's eye, something that Rika easily caught up to.

" _H-Hey, take it easy there! You're gonna brea-I mean..._ " Rika said over the Evil Eye Sigma's speaker, the engineer clearing her throat as she continued to operate that advanced tank to dodge and fire away danmaku. " _I mean it doesn't matter what you do, this baby is invincible! Hit it with all you have and you'll still lose this battle in the end!_ "

"Why are you fighting me again?" Reimu asked as Genji flew her out of the way of lasers and danmaku shot by the Evil Eye Sigma.

" _I can't exactly remember, I think it was something to do with vengeance!_ " Rika yelled as she tried to shoot Reimu with her tank's danmaku and lasers.

Reimu continued to shoot danmaku at the eye, the cracks growing bigger and bigger until the entire eye was covered in cracks. The cracks spread around, looking like thousands of tiny spiders legs that stretched along the white screen of the eye. Soon the eye could barely be recognised as an eye with all of the cracks surrounding it, breaking apart into tiny pieces that fell from where the Sigma's eye was located, revealing Rika.

The brunette widened her eyes as she saw Reimu and Genji without her screen between her and them. Reimu and Genji, in turn, were surprised as they saw the switches, levers and buttons surrounding the redesigned engineer.

"Oh... Well, this is... a predicament." Rika commented, sweating like crazy as she was now more vulnerable to Reimu's attacks than ever before. The woman then noticed a metallic bird with a camera head and a familiar logo, looking angrily at it and shaking her fist. "Hey, you two told me that this thing was impervious! You swore on it! You two damn, dirty liars!"

"Who is she yelling to?" Reimu asked as she looked backwards to where Rika was yelling, seeing a weird-looking bird with a weird-looking head. The bird was seemingly alarmed as Reimu was aware of its presence, flying away immediately. The shrine maiden trainee blinked in confusion, turning back towards Rika and the somewhat broken Evil Eye Sigma. "Well... that was a little weird."

"GRRRRR, those two liars." Rika grumbled, the engineer pulling and pushing many levers and buttons respectively. "Whatever, I can still defeat you, I just need to..."

"Fantasy Seal." Reimu said boredly, the six yin-yang surrounding her before shooting at Rika. The brunette froze, her eyes widening as the six balls of immense holy power surrounded her, letting out a little scream before all of the orbs hit her at once, crating an explosion of bright, holy energy that partially affected Reimu and Genji's sight. When the two were able to see again, they saw that the Evil Eye Sigma was no only still intact, but it wasn't damaged that much all together. Rika, on the other hand, looked incredibly damaged, with her clothes being slightly torn and her body covered in small bruises.

Rika quickly shook her head from side to side, the brunette's face looking like an unrecognisable blur from the speed she was shaking it. "Okay, you may be able to do that but I...!" Rika started, pausing as the Evil Eye Sigma began to shake, making rickety sounds and emitting smoke. "This... This really doesn't look or sound good."

The Evil Eye Sigma suddenly blew up, creating a giant cloud of smoke. A screaming figure was sent flying out of the cloud of smoke - the figure obviously being Rika, covered in soot - the same figure flying through the air and falling behind the Hakurei shrine. Reimu and Genji didn't see where Rika landed, but the little splash sound was enough confirmation that she fell into the pond behind the shrine.

"Phew." Reimu said as Genji flew towards the Hakurei shrine, particularly the back of it, with the shrine maiden trainee riding atop of him. "Not only did we beat her, but she should be alright."

"Yeah." Genji responded, the holy, turtle-like being sounding a little annoyed in tone. "But why do all of these evil girls keep on falling in my pond? I've already have enough in the past."

Genji landed behind the shrine, wherein Reimu hopped off him and walking towards the pond that has been a part of the Hakurei shrine for almost as long the shrine and its god itself. Reimu could see Meira laying down unconscious near the pond, the samurai soaked in pond water and surrounded by wet grass. Meira's chest was moving up and down, so Reimu was sure that she was still alright. Reimu approached the pond, looking at it, seeing nothing. There was a suddenly a bubbling in the pond; Rika popped her head out of the pond and took in a deep breath of air.

"I... give... up...!" Rika said as she swam to the edge of the pond, the top half of her body laying unconscious on the piece of ground.

There was an annoyed mumble behind Reimu, the purple-haired and purple-eyed maiden looking back to see Meira stagger to her feet. The samurai had her hand on her head as she looked around dizzily, her dark eyes focussing in on Reimu as she spotted the maiden, the aforementioned dark eyes glaring towards the trainee.

"YOU!" Meira yelled, running towards Reimu with her sword out, ready to strike at the maiden.

Reimu had her gohei and the Yin-Yang Orb ready, prepared to fight the weakened samurai. As Meira continued to run towards the shrine maiden trainee, continuing her war cry, a crescent moon was suddenly wacked atop of her head. The samurai froze, the crescent moon moving upwards, a giant lump growing on her head. Meira fell other unconscious. Reimu looked at the crescent moon, her eyes widening as she saw that it was attached a metal pole; a metal pole that was being held by Mima.

Marisa was beside the ghost, sitting on her flying broom.

Genji was in front of Reimu in an instant, the turtle prepared to protect the trainee. "What are _you_ doing here?" Genji hissed with disgust towards Mima, the spirit not at all hurt by what the holly entity said. Genji looked at Marisa, his eyes still in a glare. "And what about you, are you seriously still helping her."

"Calm it down, Shell Head." Mima said, slight annoyance in her voice. "I'm no longer evil, I'm not here to kill or even hurt Reimu."

"Bullshit!" Genji yelled in response. "You're a complete liar, through and through. Even little children that know what you're like in the slightest know to never trust a single word that comes out of your mouth!"

Mima was silent for a few seconds before responding. "Eh, not that I blame you." The green-haired phantom responded, shrugging her shoulders. The magician ghost then moved her spectral tail until it seemed like she was sitting on top of it. "After all, I have spent hundreds of years of lying and trickery to deceive others, either for my own gain for my personal enjoyment. Though I can assure you this one time that I'm being honest. I know I have built a title as Mima the Malevolent, among many other amazing titles to help define my greatness, but we both know that I have grown less evil throughout the years. Besides, when you're defeated by a little girl with no real experience, there is no longer any will in me to continue striving for ultimate power and absolute ruling other everything."

Genji glared at Mima. "I still don't believe you." He said.

"I'm not asking you to." Mima said; for a second, even the most miniscule of which, it almost sounded like there was sincerity in her voice. "Anyways, that was a cool fight you did against Rika and the Evil Eye Sigma."

"YOU SAW THAT?!" Reimu and Genji yelled at Mima and Marisa.

"Yep." Marisa said, the witch's hair different in colour and length, now being blonde and longer. Her eyes were also now a golden colour, unlike their red colour when Reimu last saw her. "We saw all of it, from beginning to end."

"And you didn't HELP US?!" Reimu yelled in incredulous anger.

"Hey, it's your battle, not ours." Mima responded, shrugging once again, though this time she had a smirk on her face.

Genji made a grumbling sound in annoyance. "Go back to Reimaden." The ancient, turtle-like entity said, annoyed with the green-haired witch.

"Can't." Mima responded, shrugging with a smile. "Reimaden's completely trashed, barely anything of it really remains. Sure I can still live there, as I am a ghost, but my standards are too high for me to deem it to be good enough anymore. But I have somewhere else in mind to stay at."

"Oh really?" Reimu asked, the trainee curious. "Where?"

Mima just smirked at Reimu and Genji, the ghost just making a small evil laugh as she faded out of existence. "You'll find out soon enough, trust me." Maisa said, the witch getting off her broomstick and walking towards Reimu and Genji with her arms stretched behind her head, a smile on her face. "Heyo, Eggplant. How ya doin'?"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR AND EYES!" Reimu exclaimed out of the blue, startling Marisa and Genji. "A few days ago they were both red, and your hair was much shorter a few days ago as well! What happened?!"

"Oh, this?" Marisa responded, pointing at her head. "This is what I normally look like."

"Huh...?" Reimu responded.

"It was a magic spell that I casted on myself that can change my hair and eyes." Marisa explained, "I casted it to look more menacing."

"Really? You didn't look all that menacing to me." Reimu responded, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her head.

"Yeah, that's why I decided to uncast the spell and return to my normal hair and eye colour." Marisa responded dryly. "What 'bout you? Why is your hair and eyes purple like that?"

"The Yin-Yang Orb did this to me." Reimu responded casually.

"Wha-! Really?" Marisa asked in surprise. The blonde magic protégé looked at the Yin-Yang Orb up close, the holy item having resumed its normal form. Marisa squinted as she inspected it closer, the maiden standing back upright and looking at Reimu and Genji with a raised eyebrow. "How did it do that?"

"We don't know." Genji answered, his front legs moving in a manner akin to a shrug, the action being dismissive. "The Yin-Yang Orb was created by the Hakurei Shrine God, but they have refused to speak of its full capabilities. Even I, who have been around it for hundreds of years, can still be surprised by what it is capable of. However, the change to Reimu's hair and eyes are only among the weird things I have seen this ancient item to be capable of."

"Really, what other weird things can it do?" Reimu and Marisa asked in unison.

Genji nodded. "Yes, there have been many weird things that it can do. There are so many, in fact, that it would probably be nightfall by the time I have finished listing them all down." Genji answered. The holy turtle looked at Reimu and Marisa, the two maidens pleading to him with big, puppy eyes. The entity made a sigh of annoyance, knowing that he wouldn't be able to resist them. "Okay, fine then, but I'll only tell you two three of them. I would pick... The Yin-Yang Orb can be used to possess the ability to eat sweets and not get fat, the power to give the user whatever scent they desire, and the power turn into a cat whenever the user desires."

"Wow." Reimu and Marisa said in unison and amazement, stars in their eyes.

"If that whole immense power deal wasn't enough persuasion to take the power to control the Yin-Yang Orb, then those three definitely are." Marisa said, the witch hopping back up onto her broomstick. "There's a café in the Human Village; I have been there times before and have paid for whatever I got there. Say, Eggplant, there are a ton of sweets there and whatnot, so you wanna come with me there?"

"Sure~." Reimu answered, the shrine maiden trainee and her magician friend walking/flying towards the café. "As long as you're paying, at least."

Genji opened his mouth to say something, but Reimu and Marisa had already disappeared past the entrance of the shrine. The old turtle sighed, walking slowly towards Rika, the engineer regaining consciousness. "Hey, could you please get out of my little home behind the shrine?" Genji asked, looking annoyed. "I need to keep an eye of Lady Reimu, but I don't want you to stay in my little home behind the shrine."

Rika blinked in confusion towards Genji, the brunette quickly remembering what had happened, grimacing at the holy turtle. "Fine, whatever. I don't care about this stupid pond anyways." Rika said as she got out of the pond, the engineer quickly collecting the remaining pieces of the Evil Eye Sigma that fell with her to the back of the Hakurei shrine. "I gotta take this stuff back to my warehouse as quick as possible. I'll never get a chance to access the technology that those two have."

"Actually, speaking of." Genji said, stopping Rika as she was holding nuts and bolts and other technology gobbledygook in her arms. "You mentioned two girls that gave you the technology to create the Evil Eye Sigma. Who are they?"

"That is not important to you." Rika responded, the brunette engineer walking away with all of the stuff in her arms. "I'm sure they'll show themselves sometime soon."

* * *

Yumemi and Chiyuri watched from within the Probability Space Hypervessel, watching as Rika began to run off with their technology in her arms, back to her warehouse. The two girls also watched as Genji sighed before flying away, towards where Reimu and Marisa were.

"So the Evil Eye Sigma lost against the shrine maiden." Chiyuri commented.

"It's okay, it was made for the sake of collecting data of magic, and that is exactly what it did. She may be a smart engineer, but she doesn't understand what true tech is capable of." Yumemi responded, the red-haired girl flicking a switch on the wall, turning on the lights. It was now much brighter within their room, though it was now harder to look at the screen, though that didn't matter as Chiyuri turned the screens off. The sailor-dressed girl looked at the professor, the woman seemingly musing about something. "We're given less time then before. We have only a few more days at the most before we have to return to the Outside World. If we want to return with as much data as possible, as well as some living subjects for absolute proof, then we're going to have to make haste."

"So you're saying we should make our move soon." Chiyuri observed.

"Exactly~!" Yumemi responded, taking a strawberry milkshake out of a mini fridge and drinking it. "The world has been waiting for too long anyways, it's time that we show the world that both magic _and_ science can exist in the same world."

* * *

 **Author's Note: That wraps up the last chapter of the Story of Eastern Wonderland arc, and now we'll be going straight onto the Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream arc, with a whole ton of fighting. This chapter s also longer than the average chapter shown in this fanfic, but not as much as the last one. Though this was mostly because there isn't as much to work with with the Evil Eye Sigma than as Mima, but at least it was exciting (?).**

 **So yeah, Mima's no longer evil, though she's not a good character; at best she is an anti-villain. Still, no longer evil.**

 **And Marisa and Reimu are now friends, with Marisa now having a look more akin to her modern look.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are appreciated and welcomed.**


	18. Foreign Ruins in the Sky

Reimu laid wrapped around in her blankets as she slept peacefully, the maiden in a beautiful dream of sweets and delicious cakes. But that dream was soon to be deserted and become food for the Baku as little strands of light managed to slip through the shrine's front doors and shine through its windows. Reimu's serene face begun to scrunch as the light shined on her face, the shrine maiden trainee rolling around and covering her face with her blankets, reluctant to wake up from her wonderous dream. But it was for naught as Reimu's body moved of its own accord, forcing her eyes open, even though she didn't want them to open.

As reluctant and stubborn as she was, Reimu sighed in defeat, knowing that she won't go back to sleep until it's night again. And even then, she won't be able to enjoy that same dream again.

Reimu sat back up, the shrine maiden trainee stretching her back and arms, hearing and feeling little pops happening as a result. Reimu stood up and opened the doors of the shrine, wincing as the sunlight shined ever brightly in her eyes, though she still had a feeling that it was going to be a good day nonetheless.

"What a beautiful day~." Reimu said as she walked out of her shrine, the young maiden rubbing her eyes to help herself properly waking up. "I'm sure today will be a nice and amazing... Who are you?"

One thing that Reimu didn't expect was a short girl, about as tall as the short shrine maiden trainee herself. She had a slightly chubby face that was blushing, with long blonde hair that was a little curly and wearing a red-white dress. She had a bow in her hair, long, white socks and blacks shoes, and a certain aura of magic that told Reimu that she wasn't completely human. Also, she was sleeping on the shrine grounds. No bed of any sort beneath her, not even leaves, just sleeping on the hard ground with the sun shining on her. Perfectly asleep.

Reimu didn't know who this girl is, or what she is doing at the shrine, but she knows that she can't sleep here.

"Hey!" Reimu said, poking the odd girl with her gohei, the wooden wand jabbing the girl in the ribs. Yet still, she was quite peacefully asleep. "Wake up, Weirdo."

"Huh~?" The blonde girl mumbled in her sleep, her limbs moving around as her eyes slowly opened, the girl yawning and stretching her arms before getting on her feet. She opened her eyes fully, revealing them to be golden in colour. The girl looked around, confused and blinking as the terrain of the shrine seemed unfamiliar to her, something which Reimu found to be strange; if she went to sleep on the Hakurei shrine grounds, then how is she unfamiliar to it? The girl then looked at Reimu, smiling like a carefree child as she wrapped her arms behind her back. "Hello~ My name is Ellen, what's yours~?"

 **Empty-Headed Witch that Admires Love**

 **Ellen**

"Uh... I'm Reimu." The Hakurei shrine maiden trainee responded, feeling confused by the odd girl in front of her. Ellen held out a hand for Reimu to shake, the purple-haired maiden reluctant to shake it, but did so anyways. "I have a question: why were you sleeping in front of the shrine?"

"Huh~?" Ellen responded innocently, leaning her head to the side.

"I mean, if you were lost or had nowhere to stay, I'm sure I would have let you sleep in the shrine." Reimu answered, a bead of sweat coming down to side of her head from the odd behaviour of Ellen. "I mean, the shrine was right in front of you, and the shrine grounds aren't the comfiest place to sleep. Trust me, I tried sleeping there when I was younger and had a pain in my neck for three whole days."

"Oh, I was just sleepy~." Ellen responded like it was the most simple answer in the world. "I was wondering around yesterday and got lost, then I went here. Then I got tired and went to sleep~."

"Oh, did you come here because you were lost?" Reimu asked cheerfully. "Of course, you knew that the Hakurei shrine would help you find your way home, didn't you?"

"The Hakurei what now?" Ellen asked, leaning her head to the side in confusion. Reimu swears that there was even a large, white question mark floating at the side of the witch's face. "No. I was simply wondering around for fun and fell asleep here. Oh, you've never met Sokrates."

Ellen reached into her fluffy hair, pulling out a white-furred cat with bored eyes.

"Say 'Hi', Sokrates." Ellen said as she held the cat out in front of Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee feeling confused even more. The cat meowed in response, sounding bored. Ellen hugged Sokrates quickly before holding him out towards Reimu again. "How cute, good little kitty~. Now Reimu, say 'Hi' back to Sokrates. Be a real good girl and shake his paw."

"Uh... Hello, Sokrates." Reimu responded in continued confusion, shaking the cat's paw. Ellen made an excited squeal, putting Sokrates of her shoulder.

"What is with all this noise?" Genji complained as he appeared beside Reimu, faint water dripping from him as he recently emerged from the pond. Genji looked at Ellen and her cat in confusion, the holy, turtle-like entity looking at the shrine maiden trainee. "Who is she? I can tell she is a witch, but I can't tell anything else about her."

"It is pointless to try to understand her. Trust us, we know Ellen enough to know that she is nigh incomprehensible." A voice said from behind Ellen. The blonde witch turned around towards the torii gate, Reimu and Genji passed by the red-white girl to look at the source of the voice. They all saw two women. One was an average height woman wearing a purple kimono with a red floral pattern, her eyes red, her hair the same colour; long and tied into a ponytail with a yellow bow. The other woman was just as tall, if not slightly taller. She was wearing a white lab coat with a yellow collar, with a white ribbon in her hair and round glasses. Her mid-length hair and eyes were purple. The red-haired woman had a somewhat happy expression on her face, but the purple-haired had an indifferent expression. The latter woman adjusted her glasses. "Hello, I am Rikako Asakura, I am a scientist."

 **Dream-Searching Scientist**

 **Rikako Asakura**

"What is a scientist?" Reimu asked, finding this woman to be as confusing as Ellen.

"Of course you wouldn't understand; this world is full of those dependent on magic, they would never understand the complicated concept of science, especially the shaman of such concepts." Rikako said, adjusting her glasses once again. Reimu and Genji glared at the purple-haired woman, the red-haired girl next to her gave her a concerned look. Ellen was too distracted by leaves falling towards the ground to care. "A scientist is someone who pursues science; a complicated power that is beyond magic. I seek to understand all that is beyond magic, the science of this world, and show what it is truly capable of."

"Uh huh..." Reimu responded dryly. The shrine maiden trainee pointed her gohei towards the kimono-wearing woman beside Rikako. "And who are you?"

"I am Princess Kotohime; a professional princess and professional police officer." The red-haired girl responded happily. "I am also a friend of sorts to Rikako."

 **A Princess Dreaming of Danmaku's Beauty**

 **Princess Kotohime**

"You two are friends?" Reimu asked. "But you appear to be much kinder than Rikako."

"Friends may be a strong way to put it." Rikako said, adjusting her glasses once again. The scientist looked at Reimu boredly. "That doesn't matter. As she is one of the more intelligent, more skilled and more powerful of my 'friends', I decided to bring her with me for the research."

"What research?" Reimu and Genji asked.

"Research of that, of course." Rikako responded, pointing towards the sky. Reimu and Genji looked where Rikako was pointing, their eyes widening as they saw an odd object that looked like a pile of ruins flying in the sky. It definitely wasn't there before.

"When was that there?!" Reimu yelled as she and Genji continued to look up at the strange and mysterious object.

"It has been there since this morning." Rikako explained casually, adjusting her glasses again. "As I was tinkering on my sensors, I picked up odd signatures of a power that has never been seen before. Thus I have found this object in the sky. I believe that this holds the power that is beyond magic: the power of science. Know that, as a scientist, I _will_ research these ruins regardless of what you say or do."

"Actually, it may be a good idea for us to research the ruins as well." Genji said, looking at Rikako. "As Lady Reimu is training to be the protector of Gensokyo, and as the legal owner of this pile of land, she is allowed to search these ruins herself. And as the divine turtle that is her guardian, I too am allowed to research it. Why don't we research it together?"

"Very well." Rikako responded, the purple-haired scientist giving Genji a slight glare. "But if you dare to get in the way of my research, I will not hesitate to hurt you and the trainee."

"Wow, you're not quite popular among others, aren't ya?" A voice asked, directing everyone's attention to Marisa as the witch was sitting on her broomstick, the otherwise normal item floating her in the air. To the side of the witch was Mima, the ghost lowering to the ground as her protégé did so too. "Heyo, Eggplant. Not you're usual morning, eh?"

"Hey, Marisa." Reimu responded with a slight wave. "What are you doing here? More importantly, what is _Mima_ doing here?"

"Going cold turkey from causing evil and mayhem has been harder than expected; it's an awfully boring afterlife. Something like this, something not seen regularly in even Gensokyo, is bound to keep this old spirit entertained for even a few minutes." Mima responded, the magician ghost summoning her crescent staff and making it floating in the air on its side, seemingly leaning on it as a big grin grew on her spectral face. "Besides, I can't let this eyesore float over the shrine if I'm considering moving in."

"WHAT?!" Reimu and Genji responded in an outburst, looking at Mima incredulously. Mima was snickering at the expressions of the holy duo, Marisa was outright laughing at them, pointing at them and holding her stomach as she was still balancing on her broomstick. Rikako huffed in annoyance at their ridiculous behaviour while her friend, Kotohime, was giggling to herself like a little kid. Ellen was lost in a daydream about evil snails trying to take over a fictional world that she made up in her little head.

"You will absolutely _not_ , Serpent!" Genji growled, giving Mima a hard glare. "The Hakurei shrine is a living area for the good, and the good alone. I would never trust something like you, especially to take residence in the sacred shrine of Hakurei."

"Well then it's a good thing that I'm no longer evil, I'm sure the Hakurei God won't throw a fit if I decide to live in there." Mima responded flippantly, shrugging as the turtle continued to glare at her. "Besides, I'm only considering living here, my decision isn't final, not yet."

"Why you...!" Genji growled.

"Hey, what's this weird thing you're wearing, Eggplant 2.0?" Marisa asked, the magician floating behind Rikako, noticing something weird that the scientist was wearing; it looked like a backpack, but it had these two weird things attached to the back. Rikako turned around in surprise, glaring at Marisa as the witch got of her broom and held it in her hand.

"This is a jetpack." Rikako explained, gesturing towards the thing she was wearing on her back. "It is what I use to fly."

"But can't you just use magic to fly?" Ellen asked, the blonde witch suddenly appearing at Rikako's side, giving her another surprise. "I can sense a lot of magic energy coming from you. It is some of the strongest that I have ever felt, in fact. Why do you need that back-jet thing when you can just use magic like everyone else?"

"Come to think of it, you do give off an immense sense of power." Mima said, the ghost floating towards Rikako until her face was just inches from the scientist's, much to her discomfort. Mima's face lit up, even though Rikako was becoming uncomfortable from being surrounded especially by magic users. "Ah-ha, you're a Asakura, aren't you? I've heard legends about the Rikako's and their natural power and talent in magic ever since I was a kid."

"Yes, I am an Asakura." Rikako responded, pushing Mima, Marisa and Ellen away as she was beginning to feel claustrophobic from their lack of personal face. The magician-turned-scientist let out a sigh of relief, adjusting her places and her hair until they looked immaculate, regaining her expression of icy indifference. "Yes, I am an Asakura. And yes, I do posses tremendous magic power and an immense mastery of it. However, I _hate_ magic. Science is the much better solution, that is why I favour it. And as my honour as a scientist, I will never use my magic by any means necessary. Only something truly dire will force me to use magic."

"Oh... I will give you something dire to use your magic." Mima responded darkly, the ghost impaling her staff into the ground, her magic flaring as her eyes turned a golden power, glowing with magic. Mima had a dark expression on her face; one of complete animosity. Mima pointed her crescent staff at Rikako. "You sacrilegious traitor, possessing magic power that most would dream about and instead searching for a new option. How can you sleep at night?!"

"What I do with magic is none of your business." Rikako responded, showing no feat towards the ferocious and infamous ghost that was glaring at her like an angry murder to their victim. The scientist pulled out a cylinder from her lab coat, a large hole in one side that showed something. "If I wish to not use magic, than that is my decision. Now, Mage Ghost, if you don't want me to use this ghost-hurting rocket to turn you into ectoplasm, I advise that you put away that thing of yours. Make no mistake, I _won't_ hesitate to shoot you with this."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Marisa said, the witch pointing her magic wand - the star glowing blue with magic power - against the back of Rikako's head, the scientist looking back at the blonde girl with a bead of sweat falling down the side of her face, though she kept her cylinder pointing towards Mima.

"And I wouldn't do that if I were _you_." Kotohime said, a somewhat metallic sound coming from the crimson-haired princess. The witch looked without moving her head or body, seeing Kotohime pointing an unsheathed katana at her, the sharp tip just barely touching the side of the blonde's head.

The four girls were stuck in a little confrontation. It would take only one move to decide what the outcome would be.

"Stop it, all of you!" Reimu yelled, the shrine maiden trainee changing the Yin-Yang Orb into four duplicates. The purple-haired maiden's outburst caused Mima, Rikako, Marisa and Kotohime to look at her as she sent the duplicates towards all of them respectively, each respective orb hitting each respective woman square in the forehead, causing them all to fall to the ground, a purple mark on all of their foreheads. "If you want to fight, then fine, but I don't want you fighting on the shrine grounds; it will be a mess and it would stop people from donating to the shrine."

"Your priorities are a little off, Lady Reimu." Genji commented as the turtle stood beside the trainee.

Rikako growled, the immensely powerful, yet reluctant, mage pushing Ellen off of her (how the witch got on top of her is anyone's guess) and standing back up. The scientist's hands were in fists as she trodden towards Reimu, the woman taller than the maiden as she was up close. "Look here, little girl!" Rikako growled as she looked down at Reimu slightly, jabbing her in the chest with her finger. "I am a respectable scientist, I will not let you-WahAhAh!"

Rikako was suddenly floating in the air, and definitely not of her own accord. The purple-eyed woman's arms and legs were flailing around as she was seemingly being tossed around in the air, her screams a sign that she wasn't liking this in the slightest.

"Phew, thank you for getting her away, Mima." Reimu said as Rikako was still being tossed around in the air above the shrine ground.

"Even though I can use telekinesis, and I would love to use it to fling that iconoclast to the other side of Gensokyo, I am not the one doing that." Mima responded, though the ghost was indeed enjoying the sight. Mima put her hands on her hips and looked around the shrine ground to find out who was behind the odd act of telekinesis. It definitely wasn't Marisa, she was busy laughing at the sight. It wasn't Reimu or Genji, they were just as surprised. It was Kotohime, the princess was looking at the odd sight in wonder. And it wasn't Ellen, she was entranced by something small wiggling along the ground. And Mima doubts that the cat on her shoulder would posses such magic power, or even care enough to do this to Rikako.

Mima closed her eyes and focussed on sensing any magical powers nearby, finding nothing new.

"Strange, I can't find anything." Mima commented, the ghost looking back up as Rikako's face was turning green from how carelessly she was being tossed around in the air. "Just who is doing this?"

"Oh, that would be me." A mysterious and disembodied voice said from near the entrance of the shrine, speaking in an unfamiliar accent. Rikako was suddenly dropped from the invisible force tossing her around, the scientist landing on Ellen. Reimu, Genji, Mima, Marisa and Kotohime looked at the entrance as a being materialised before their eyes. It was a girl, one of a somewhat young age, wearing a blue and white maid uniform with a frilled white apron, a red ribbon and a wide-brim hat with a red ribbon on it. She had yellow eyes with blonde hair. The mysterious girl made a curtsey. "How do you do? I am Kana Anaberal, a poltergeist from a land in the Outside World called Britain. Nice to meet you."

 **Other Dimension Poltergeist Maiden**

 **Kana Anaberal**

Everyone looked at confusion at the poltergeist in front of them, even Mima, though her reason differed from everyone else's. " _How was she able to keep herself undetected by my magical sensor?_ " Mima thought, the green-haired ghost looking closely at the blonde poltergeist, her golden eyes returning back to green. " _Even when I was alive, I was a master at sensing ghosts. And ever since I myself became one of the dead, that skill of mine has became ever better. Just who is she?_ "

"Hey, what is with your weird voice?" Marisa asked without respect towards the poltergeist in front of her, the witch maiden lucky that Kana is a rather calm individual and thus wouldn't use her telekinesis to throw her off the mountain.

"It is simply the British accent." Kana answered, the ghost girl keeping her hands wrapped in front of her.

"Well, what are you doing here if you're from the Outside World?" Reimu asked curiously.

"It is simple, really. You see, as a poltergeist, I was haunting an old British mansion that was home to a wealthy family. I was once a part of that family centuries ago, but I died at a young age and couldn't move on." Kana explained, the spectral girl using her telekinesis to make a log float towards her, the poltergeist seemingly sitting on the log, an expression on her face that seemed akin to a reminisce. "It was fun at first, the hauntings. But the family started to get used to me and my ghostly presence, and they were no longer fun as they were no longer scared. Even the children didn't scream whenever I tried to haunt them. Even the neighbours would simply smile and wave at me whenever I tried to scare them instead of the family. I didn't like it; I'm not Casper the Friendly Ghost, I'm Kana Anaberal: a spooky poltergeist that haunts. I decided that I would leave and live in one of the Otherworlds instead of the Outside World. Somehow, I ended up here, and there was a sort of Language Barrier Magic that allowed me to understand the Japanese of this place, even though I speak only English. I've been here all morning; invisible and watching in amusement."

" _She was here the entire time and I still couldn't sense her?!_ " Mima thought as she continued to look at the foreign poltergeist, interest growing her eyes. " _Either she's really powerful, or she is simply good at keeping herself secret. Nevertheless, I should keep my eyes on her._ "

"If you are all done talking," Rikako said, the scientist having gotten back on her feet and cleaned herself up, looking like Kana didn't do anything to her. "I believe that we should research those odd ruins in the sky. Or at least just Kotohime and I, as I don't trust any of you that much.

Suddenly, the doors to the floating ruins had opened up, the noise being audible enough for everyone to hear and look at the floating structure. A large and long staircase appeared in front of the floating entrance, stopping on the Hakurei shrine grounds, right in front of Reimu and the others.

"My, seems like there is someone in there." Kotohime commented as she looked at the stairs that led up to the mysterious structure. "And it seems like that someone wants us to come in."

"Heh, this should be entertaining." Marisa smirked, the protégé sitting atop her broomstick.

"Lady Reimu, I don't sense any particular energy coming from this, but I still have a feeling that something bad is going to happen." Genji said to the shrine maiden trainee, looking seriously at the ruins. "You must be sure to be on your best guard the instant you enter those ruins, some great evil could be lurking in there."

"Don't worry, Gramps. I can handle this~." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden trainee beginning to walk up the stairs, being the first one to actually ascend up the piece of the ruins. "I'm sure that things will work out alright just fine, like they have in the past."

"This certainly looks interesting, and that amusing vaudeville between all of you is all over." Kana commented, looking bored and disappointed. The poltergeist began to float up the stairs, somewhat behind Reimu and Genji, her ghostly legs dangling in the air. "However this looks like something that can be really fun. It'll help make this new life in Gensokyo far more entertaining."

"I have a feeling that there is a power in there that I have never seen before." Mima said, the ghost floating next to her protégé. "Come, Marisa, we must raid those ruins for all its valuables and any hidden powers."

"Those ruins are not yours to enjoy and raid like it is some game of yours." Rikako said, the purple-haired girl following after the others as they went upwards towards the ruins. "Come, Kotohime, we mustn't let them deface those ruins while they still hold the power of science!"

Ellen watched as all of the other girls and the turtle disappeared up the stairs towards the ruins. Ellen pulled Sokrates off her shoulder, the white-furred cat rather indifferent to the action. "What do you think we should do, Sokrates~?" The blonde witch asked her cat, the cat merely meowing in response a few seconds later, after everyone had already entered the ruins, though the doors remained wide open and the staircase up remained present. Despite all of this, Ellen took the meow as a response of some sort, the girl happily hugging her cat. "That's a great idea, Sokrates~!"

Ellen then walked down the stairs that led up to the Hakurei shrine.

* * *

"Perfect." Yumemi said as she looked at the screens, showing Reimu and the other magic-possessing girls and her holy turtle walk down the hallway towards the specific room of her Probability Space Hypervessel, the images being captured by tiny, hidden cameras that she put in the hallway. Soon they would enter the battle room, where she can collect the rest of the data that she needs to get - just a tiny bit more - and then she can take them to the Outside World with her. And with her discovery of magic, people will stop looking down on Yumemi for always believing in it. The smile on Yumemi's face grew wider, her mouth inches above the microphone and her fingers grazing the buttons for the microphone. "Simply perfect."

"All of our hard work will finally pay off." Chiyuri said, the blonde barely able to contain her excitement. "We hit the jackpot here, Yumemi. I can already imagine the looks on those snobby scientists' faces, they'll be eating their hats for sure."

"I know, it's absolutely marvellous~." Yumemi responded, the red-haired woman turning around and smiling at her assistant before looking back at the screens. "We are on the verge of a new epoch in the existence of humanity. Magic and the supernatural will no longer be seen as fiction; the world will finally understand that the possibilities in the universe are truly infinite. Our names will go down in history for making a discovery that is unlike anything else in the world, we'll make scientists like Einstein and Charles Darwin look like the fools."

Yumemi pressed a button, the screens now displaying the battle room: the room where the girls shall commence their fight; where Yumemi will harvest the last needed pieces of magic data.

The red-haired scientist suddenly made a double take as she saw that someone was already in there, and it wasn't someone that was with Reimu and the others as they were still walking down the hallway. "What the...?" Yumemi muttered. If her memory served right, this person had definitely went away. "How'd she get in there? This defies logic!"

"What are you talking about, Yumemi...?" Chiyuri as she leaned over Yumemi's shoulder, the fifthteen year old widening her eyes as she saw a certain blonde and her cat in the battle room. "What in the same of the almighty?"

* * *

"Look, I see a door up ahead." Reimu pointed, running towards the metal door.

"Hey, wait up for me, Eggplant!" Marisa yelled, the apprentice flying after the trainee on her broomstick. Marisa had accidently went faster than expected, the girl accidently ramming into Reimu's back, the two trainees flying through the door, the two pieces of metal opening easily. Reimu and Marisa hit their faces hard against the metal surface, a throbbing pain on the side of both of their faces. "Ow... How'd you get here?!"

Reimu looked up at Marisa in a glare as the magician had caused her to hit against the ground, not helped that the other maiden was on top of her. Reimu whacked Marisa off of her with her gohei, the purple-eyed maiden getting back up, only to look at what Marisa saw and becoming just as surprised as her.

Ellen was in the building, the girl having as little of a clue on how she got there as everyone else.

"What in the name of science?" Rikako said, looking at Ellen incredulously. "I don't remember you running up the stairs, or you passing by us."

"My, do you also possess the power of teleportation?" Mima asked Ellen, the ghost suddenly appearing by Marisa and Reimu's side, her fingers pressed into the small spaces between each other.

"No~. Or I don't remember having the power to teleport." Ellen explained, the witch sitting down with her legs crossed, taking Sokrates of her shoulder and seemingly playing with the cat as it looked on boredly, seemingly blasé to Ellen's behaviour. "I was walking down those big stairs, thinking about sea shells, then ice cream, then about seashell-flavoured ice cream, when I was suddenly surrounded by darkness and these weird, giant eyes that were staring at me, and then suddenly I was here, and then those two burst through the door."

Genji, who was walking in, had heard what Ellen said as he entered, the turtle knowing who put Ellen in the room that everyone was entering. " _So she decided to put this witch in here?_ " The holy turtle thought, stopping when he was by the side of Reimu. " _What reason did she have for it? Does she have some specific plans that tie in between these ruins and this Ellen girl, or is it just something done on a mere whim for her amusement? If the latter option is true, then she is probably watching this for her entertainment. I wouldn't put it past her as being the one behind these ruins._ "

Genji looked at Mima, the ghost having a look in her eye that told Genji that she was thinking the same thing.

"Wow, what a big place." Kotohime commented as she looked at the large, spacious room; it even looked like it was bigger than how the ruins themself have appeared on the outside. Maybe whoever owns or has created this place knows a thing or not about spatial manipulation.

"Yes, it is indeed a huge place, but that is not what is important right now." Rikako said as she appeared at her friend(?)'s side, looking around the large yet empty room. "I came here for anything that can bring me closer to science, however I find none of that here. I honestly hope that there is _something_ of worth here, I don't want it to be that I packed all of my most useful inventions for nothing."

"Hush now, you winy little scientist." Kana said, the poltergeist appearing behind the purple-haired woman. "Unless if you wish for me to toss you around in the sky again, or having me try out something different on you. If that is the case, then continue yelling away."

That was enough to silence Rikako.

" ** _I see that you are all here for one reason or another, are you all not?_** " A loud and disembodied voice asked, a strange filter over the voice to make it hard for anyone to tell if the supposedly incorporeal owner of the voice was human or demon, man or woman. Nevertheless it was enough to cause everyone, even Ellen, to look around as they tried to find who the voice came from. " _ **You all must be filled with questions, searching for the answers, specifically to my precious realm. Do not worry, for all will be revealed soon. I even have some special gifts for all of you that is beyond your wildest imagination.**_ "

"Whoa, free stuff?" Marisa responded, her eyes shining with stars. "Being given it may not be as fun as borrowing it, but it still is good."

Genji gave Marisa a disapproving glance in response to the magician's hint that she might be stealing, but Reimu was too caught up in the prospect of getting a gift beyond her imagination to do the same. "Oh, I wonder what it could be~." The shrine maiden trainee said in a sing-song tone. "I hope it's someone that can help me with keeping the shrine clean, sometimes it's a nightmare to keep the place clean."

"Hmm, a gift that is beyond my wildest imagination, huh?" Mima hummed, her chin resting on her fingers, looking up at the ceiling as she had no one to look at. "Well I have quite the imagination; if someone claims that they can give me something that is beyond it, then they're either fibbing or they're something else. Do not disappoint me, whoever you are, or else I will make you suffer."

"Oooh, a gift~." Ellen said. "I didn't know it was Gifts Day. Did you hear that, Sokrates? It's Gifts Day~!"

Sokrates meowed in response, caring about nothing more than being with his witch master.

"It's science, isn't it?" Rikako said to the disembodied voice, a hint of desperation in her voice. "I knew it, I knew this was made of science. You're going to show us science and teach it to us, aren't you?"

"I don't need something beyond my wildest imagination, I already have everything that I want back at the castle." Kotohime said, feeling happy about her life.

"All I need is a good house to haunt~." Kana said happily.

The disembodied cleared its throat, meaning that it must have a body and is communicating with them through an unknown method. " ** _Anyways, if you wish for me to give you want you want, you must prove your strength to me. Fight! Fight as I command._** " The voice said. " ** _I am Yumemi Okazaki, impress me and all your wishes will be granted._** "

"Fighting?" Reimu responded to the mysterious voice's command. "I mean, I don't mind it, but it seems like it could be such an effort."

"We have already entered this place, and it seems like the doors have closed and been sealed stuck, so we can't do anything about it." Genji said, the turtle nudging Reimu to walk on top of his shell, knowing that his ability to fly would be needed. "Besides, this Okazaki person definitely knows why they have appeared above the shrine."

"Hehehe, now I can show off how much I have improved." Marisa said, twirling around her magic wand as she sat atop of her broomstick, floating high in the air. "You better hope that you don't fight me this time, Eggplant, 'cause my power and skills are on a completely different level that before."

"Fool! Nothing that you send against me can ever handle the might of my magic!" Mima said, her crescent moon glowing with intense magical power.

Ellen outstretched her arms, being surrounded by a little tornado of golden magic that made her spin around and float in the air, Sokrates resting on her shoulder. No one knew if she was aware of the fighting or not, she was quite a hard woman to read.

The two things attached to the back of Rikako's backpack began to shoot out fire, allowing the scientist to fly in the air without using magic. "It is good that I have packed my strongest inventions." Rikako said. "It is the name of science, I am reading for whatever I can do to learn more about the world."

"Let us fight and bring out the beauty of danmaku~!" Kotohime said with glee, a small cloud conjuring in front of her. The scarlet-haired princess jumped onto the cloud, the slightly pink phenomenon flying her up in the air. Kotohime removed flower-patterned kimono, revealing a blue suit with a small skirt and thick, black boots that she was wearing, a belt around her waist the had a sheathed katana and multiple bombs. Kotohime pulled out her katana, an almost maniacal grin growing on her face.

"I'm ready, this sounds entertaining." Kana said, making a giant stop sign appear out of the thin air and holding it, a ready look on her spectral face.

* * *

"Hehehe, I'm going to collect so much data on magic and going to see some awesome battles take place in my magnum opus." Yumemi giggled like a kid trapped in a candy store, her hands in fists as her arms moved without control because of her excitement. "And after it's all over, we'll be taking them back home and change the face of science forever. Oh this has to be the greatest day of my life."

"I couldn't agree with you any more, Yumemi." Chiyuri said, the sailor suit-wearing teenager looking at the magic scanners near the screens showing their captured magic users. Chiyuri's body was also shaking with adrenaline that was being pumped in with her excitement. "These magic reading of theirs are tremendous, especially that Rikako girl's. O know she's supressing it, but I could guess that her magic even surpasses that of the magician ghost's."

"This is a gift from God himself." Yumemi said. "Ruukoto, get the bowl of strawberries~!"

"As you wish, Lady Yumemi." The android maid's voice could be heard from within the darkness in a monotone voice, appearing almost instantaneously with a bowl of strawberries in her hands, the small fruits having their tops cut off, placed on top of each other like popcorn.

Yumemi took the bowl of strawberries and placed it on her desk in front of the keyboard, the professor writing down commands into the keyboard. "It's a good thing that I copied Rika's notes on how to create artificial monsters; this makes magic data collecting much easier." Yumemi said as she finished writing in the command. On the screens, Yumemi saw one of the walls in the battle room open, all of the supernatural girls and the flying turtle within the room noticing. Giant creatures shaped like stars, teacups, hearts and Bakebake appeared from the open area of the wall, all coming in different colours. Yumemi pressed a finger down on the button near her microphone, lowering her head down towards it. "Fight!"

* * *

 **And now starts the Phantasmagoria of Dim Dream arc, with mostly just some talking and meeting of new characters. Though that may be more of a good thing, as the last chapters have been mostly just fighting, so this chapter could just be considered a breather chapter. Maybe I should consider putting in filler chapters for more chapters that are more than long fight scenes. Ahem, anyways, considering what the actual game is like (as in it's basically a fight game-style bullet hell), most of the chapters in this arc will be versus matches between our seven characters.**

 **Yes, seven, I'll have to figure something out about that.**

 **Ellen is, as most of you probably know, meant to be a parody character of the heroines of the manga _Hatarakimono_ , which is a cannon part of her character. As I have never read the manga, nor know anything of it or the character it is based on, I hope I haven't offended any of the fans that would end up reading this by making Ellen a ditz. And Sokrates is just her pet cat (probably enchanted by the witch so he is basically immortal, like her) who has grown used to his master's odd nature.**

 **Rikako is a scientist in this, or at least a self-proclaimed scientist. She had made multiple gadgets and inventions, mostly for the sake of combat, but she hasn't done any real breakthroughs. While Rikako knows science better than most people in Gensokyo, it doesn't change that magic is above all in the feudal land and that science is rare, so her concept of science is meant to be a little off to show that not she fully understands it yet. And yes, in this fanfic Rikako is an extremely powerful magician, despite her attempts at being a scientist. The reason behind this idea is because it's actually cannon; in her profile it states as following:**

 **" _However, she is also a magic user, and a fairly powerful one at that.  
Setting aside science for a moment, when she gets serious with her magic power, nothing can stop her, but she really doesn't like magic so this doesn't happen often."_**

 **So yeah, canonically, Rikako actually has magic power, possibly enough to match and maybe even surpass Mima, but doesn't use it because she hates it. Who knows, maybe I might bring in a moment where we actually see this fabled magic power of hers (at least if I remember to write in what I have planned for the Mystic Square arc), but for now she will only be relying on the gizmos that I imagine for her.**

 **Kotohime, in this fic, is an actual princess, though of what royalty or castle is unknown. Her parents do actually care about her, and are protective of her, but she often likes to sneak out on her own, though she makes it no secret that she's a princess; she kind of a conundrum. She is a self-proclaimed police officer, though she doesn't really have anything outside of her police uniform. Since the canon Kotohime from the official game has a sort of sword slash charge attack, I decided that she has a katana in this universe, and she is quite skilled with it. She also has bombs, for more obvious reasons. She's usually pretty calm, but as soon as she starts a danmaku brawl, she becomes rather maniacal.**

 **And last but no least is Kana, who's obviously a poltergeist. She's a bit more simple than the other characters, just a western poltergeist that got bored of the outside world because the residents of her mansion were no longer afraid of her. She of course likes to scare people and has a few horror tricks up her proverbial sleeves. As a poltergeist, she obviously has the powers of telekinesis, invisibility and passing through physical matter. She has some more abilities that will be shown later, but she has already shown the power of making a stop sign materialise out of nowhere.**

 **And it looks like a sneaky, boundary-manipulating youkai is aware of Yumemi's plans. Who knows why she put Ellen in the battle room.**

 **Fun fact: When I originally made it that in this fic Rika had gained access to Yumemi's technology, I had only made that so I could create a reason for why Rika made such an advanced tank. But, whilst writing this chapter, it had struck me that I could use that same idea to explain why those enemies that you have to shoot down in the original game appear. So yeah, I guess that's some unexpected genius there.**

 **And yes, Yumemi is going to eat those strawberries like how most people eat popcorn when watching a movie.**

 ***Looks at the length of the Author's Note* Jeez, way to compensate for how short the other Author's Notes have been for the past chapters.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	19. Magic Maidens and Surrogate Familiars

Reimu was riding on top Genji as the magic turtle flew her around the battle room, the shrine maiden trainee shooting danmaku and ofuda at the numerous weird creatures that were flying towards her and the other girls, shooting out little white bullets at them, though it didn't seemed like it was enough to defeat any of them.

As Reimu was using her basic form of fighting to defeat the artificial monsters, the others were using what was presumably their own fighting styles. Marisa was shot out multicoloured star-shaped danmaku from the wand, the blonde protégé sometimes stopping to charge up a faint blue laser attack that she shot from the same tool. Mima was going from a different approach than her student, the ghost raising her hand into the air and shooting out danmaku that looked like blue crystals. Ellen was mostly summoning these odd, metal orbs that would spin around in a pattern, seemingly hitting the multicoloured monsters by pure luck, though the witch did cast a spell from time to time, ranging from a spell that was a giant mass of fireballs to an ice spell that completely enclosed the monsters in a shard of ice.

Rikako was being surrounded by many orbs of different colour that spun around her, the orbs being too fast for anyone to notice what the precise colours were, the inventions shooting out danmaku bullets, hitting all the monsters that flew around her. Kotohime was laughing like a psycho as she cut the monsters in half with her katana, the princess occasionally throwing a bomb at them from time to time. Lastly, Kana was summoning little phantom-like creatures that were completely white, save for their completely black eyes and mouths, the phantoms flying towards and hitting the far away monsters while Kana relied on the stop sign that she summoned to whack the closer monsters.

Before anyone had noticed, all of the monsters had been defeated, and the hole in the wall had closed.

"Man, what an insultin' lie." Marisa huffed angrily as she floated down, her feet dangling above the metal floor as she stayed atop her floating broomstick. "I just started getting warmed up and there's none of 'em left. Shoulda just left it all to me, my power alone would have reduced those weakling to nothin'."

"Yes... How disappointing..." Kotohime acknowledged in an eerily quiet and emotionless voice, her eyes dull as she stepped off her cloud, the princess putting her katana back into its sheath. "It was so much fun, yet it lasted for so little of a time. What beauty is there in that?"

"Uh, Koto-whatzit, you're kinda creeping me out with that look on your face." Marisa said. Kotohime made no verbal response, the red-haired princess merely looking towards Marisa with her blank eyes and mouth in the form of a straight line. Marisa began sweating bullets as Kotohime kept looking at her with those almost dead eyes of hers. "That ain't makin' it better, y'know!"

"That was such a bad Ribbon Party." Ellen whined as she layed on her back, holding Sokrates over her. "I mean, no one brought any tea or cupcakes or anything. How are we supposed to celebrate the Pegasus' sacrifice when there is nothing to add to tribute to it?"

Kana and Rikako watched from the distance, the two almost feeling their braincells dying from the witch's words. "I don't know what goes on inside her head, and frankly I don't want to." Kana commented.

"I agree." The purple-haired scientist responded.

"So... do we get the prizes now?" Reimu asked the disembodied voice known as Yumemi, the shrine maiden trainee sitting down on top of Genji's shell, the bored maiden twiddling with her gohei as she rested her head on one hand.

"Lady Reimu, simple prizes should not be seen as your top priority at the moment." Genji said as he stood still and kept his guard up, prepared for any surprises that this Yumemi or anyone else in the room would suddenly pull on him.

"But we were promised prizes, Gramps." Reimu whined. "Yumemi promised that she would tell us everything and give us prizes beyond our imagination if we proved ourselves to them by defeating those creatures they summoned. We've done what they requested, now they should give us those prizes they promised...!"

"You can't argue with the little girl there, Fossil." Mima said as she suddenly appeared in front of Genji, the green-haired ghost leaning her head on her crossed arms as she smirked at the holy being in joy. "A promise is a promise, Genji; we did as asked and we should get our reward."

"Firstly, Yumemi never said that we would get prizes if we defeated those monsters, only if we proved ourselves; it might not be the end yet." Genji said to Reimu, the turtle turning his head around to look at the maiden on his shell. Genji turned his head towards Mima, his grey eyes being filled with flames of rage, not that it hurt Mima's smile. "And secondly, you are the last person to say anything about being fair. You are infamous for many things, and one of them is your habit of lying and stabbing people in the back, sometimes quite literally. If anything, I still believe that your mere presence is enough to hurt the concept of truth and trust."

Mima laughed in response, the ghost turning around, floating atop the floor on her back, her hands on her stomach. Mima turned herself again, looking at Genji in the face once again, his serious face remaining.

"Then you're one of the smart ones." Mima responded.

* * *

"Well, that was quicker than expected..." Yumemi commented, her empty bowl of strawberries to her side as she looked at the screens, her computer picking up little data of magic from the display that just happened within her invention. Yumemi would otherwise have nearly fainted in the excitement of magic happening within her Probability Space Hypervessel, but her disappointment was reigning supreme. "I blame it on Rika; it was her flawed design that caused those creations of mine to be weak. There are limits to even my genius."

"Yeah, it is not like it is flawed by your design..." Chiyuri muttered sarcastically, the teen suddenly feeling a hard slap at the side of her head that left a throbbing pain where it was hit. Chiyuri hissed from the hard hit, looking up at the only person who would do that.

Chiyuri was frozen in fear from the demonic aura surrounding Yumemi, the red-haired professor glaring down at her.

"What did you say, Chiyuri...?!" Yumemi muttered darkly, her hand in a fist as she was ready to hit the blonde on the head again.

"N-n-n-nothing, Yumemi!" Chiyuri stammered, waving her hands in front of her as she was sweating bullets.

Yumemi instantly calmed down, the demonic aura disappearing. "There, good." The professor responded, looking back towards the computer screen. Yumemi's face scrunched as she looked at the females (and male turtle) that were meant to be her subjects taken back to the Outside World. Kara was floating behind Ellen, the poltergeist having changed her spectral legs into a tail and summoned her little phantoms. It seemed like Ellen had forgotten about Kana and was being scared by what the blonde was doing for that purpose. Sokrates was angrily swiping at Kana and her fake phantoms as they were scaring his master, though his claws were going right through their spectral bodies.

Marisa and Mima were talking about something. Yumemi didn't know what they were talking about, as she turned the speakers inside the computer room off so she could muse in peace. The apprentice and mentor were smiling about something, the two soon erupting in laughter. Yumemi could only assume that one of them told the other a joke or some prank they remembered.

The professor turned her red eyes towards Rikako and Kotohime as they were also talking. It seemed like the princess had calmed down from her odd mood brought out by her disappointment towards the battle's transience. Kotohime was happy, like she was when outside of the building, blabbering away about something at fast speeds, Rikako just sat by her and massaged her temples to maintain her sanity.

Yumemi then looked at Reimu and Genji, the shrine maiden trainee sitting on top of the ancient being and looking bored while the turtle kept his serious expression. The duo were suddenly approached by Marisa, the magician soon talking about something. It seemed to be enough to gain Reimu's complete attention, but it didn't seem to interest Genji that much. As Marisa continued to talk, however, Reimu's smile began to go away as her face paled in colour and Genji began to look horrified.

Yumemi raised an eyebrow as she saw but didn't hear what was going on with the two girls, but she didn't really care, the red-haired professor clicking a button, turning the speakers back on.

"...And so, he and all the other children knew to never make fun of me again." Marisa said, ending her little story.

"That was... evil...!" Reimu muttered.

"Yeah, as if I wasn't already unpopular around all the normal humans." Marisa said, though there wasn't a sense of guilt in her voice as she spoke. "Oh well, normal humans are kinda borin' anyways; not only do they not know magic, but they fear and hate it and never do anything interesting with their lives. Unlike you, Reimu, that's why you're my friend."

Marisa hugged Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee being nonplussed by Marisa's friend statement. Genji, however, ignored the interaction and looked at Mima. "You're the one that put that put that ideology in her head, aren't you?"

"No, she already had that kind of ideology in her head when she came to be to learn magic." Mima responded, the ghost casting Genji a smile that was bordering on being a smirk. "In fact, it was that viewpoint of the world that she had that gave her the animus to learn magic and become my protégé."

Yumemi wasn't particularly interested in the life stories of her subjects, the woman pressing down on the button near her microphone and clearing her throat, the sound attracting the attention of everyone in the battle room as they could hear her again. "There seemed to be a miscalculation in the numbers and strength of my monsters." Yumemi said, trying to hide the embarrassment that was building up within her. "But mark my words, I am still someone who can give you items and treasures that you have never seen before, thus you still need to prove your strength. Simply, you will all have a few one on one battles against each other."

* * *

"Battles?" Everyone with the exception of Mima and Genji asked; Reimu, Rikako, Kana and Ellen were surprised, Marisa and Kotohime were excited.

"But this is preposterous." Rikako argued. "We have already done as asked, and what do battles have to do with science?"

" ** _I may know more about science than you ever will, but even I know that science isn't everything._** " Yumemi responded, not sounding annoyed by the purple-hared woman. " ** _Besides, I_ need _strong people. My gifts aren't something to give away to anyone, I want everyone to prove that they are powerful individuals to see if they are worthy or the amazing gifts I have on hand. Now, focus your attention of the screen, please._** "

Before anyone could ask about what screen (and in some cases, what a screen is) another wall had opened with a square hole, showing a panel of light that showed pictures of Reimu, Marisa, Rikako, Ellen, Kotohime, Kana and Mima respectively. Reimu's picture was of a moment where she was sweeping leaves of the shrine road, though that could honestly be any day. Marisa's was of her flying through the air on her broomstick, seemingly flying towards something she wanted to catch. Rikako's picture was of her holding and examining a glass beaker with an unknown liquid within it. Ellen's picture was of her sleeping near a lake, Sokrates curled up next to her as he too was sleeping. Kotohime's showed her on her pink cloud and wearing her kimono, surrounded by knights that were most likely the guards of her family. Kana's picture looked recent, in fact it looked like it was taken in the morning when she showed herself.

Mima's picture, however, raised alarm within the spirit, as well as within Reimu, Genji and Marisa. While all the other pictures could probably be recent, Mima's was of her holding up her crescent sceptre, a giant sphere of dim light behind her. This was definitely taken when Mima was in Reimaden, and considering that the only time she used Twilight Spark within Reimaden was during the incident that she dubbed as The Story of Eastern Wonderland incident, she knew that this Yumemi person must have been keeping an eye on Gensokyo for at least a month or two.

Using her telekinesis, Mima moved Reimu, Genji and Marisa to a far corner of the room, the ghost quickly teleporting there. Rikako, Ellen, Kana and Kotohime had either didn't notice or didn't care; as far as they were sure, Yumemi had only came to Gensokyo only a few days ago and the pictures were fairly recent (Kana's definitely was, at least).

"Okay, listen closely." Mima whispered to Reimu, Genji and Marisa, the ghost hoping that Yumemi wasn't hearing here. "I know that you've probably already figured it out, but I think that Yumemi might have been keeping an eye on us for a while now."

"Jeez, you don't say." Marisa responded sarcastically, the magician not hap[y for being forcefully taken off her broomstick and hardly thrown into the corner of the metal room, even if it was by her own master. The blonde woman dusted her dress slightly before snapping her fingers, summoning her broomstick to fly towards her, presuming to sit on it. "So, you think that this Yumemi could be some evil threat?"

"Not sure." Mima answered, shrugging her arms. "If they're evil or not, I don't care. I'm not sure if Yumemi is a danger or not, all that I know is that they have been keeping an eye on us for a while now. Might be best to play along and keep an eye on anything suspicious."

"I was already certain about keeping an eye open." Genji responded. "We should go back to the others, we don't want Yumemi to become suspicious of us."

Mima teleported back to the others as Marisa flew towards them while Genji carried Reimu. The four girls clearly didn't notice that the other four had went away as they didn't react to them appearing again, too focussed on the screen. The screen was showing all of the seven pictures circling around a logo: a completely red strawberry silhouette with the words 'STRAWBERRY INC.' written on it.

"That's the same logo that was on the Evil Eye Sigma." Genji commented, remembering the logo that Rika had on her flying turtle. "So this person was the one that supplied Rika with the technology needed to create such a machine in this feudal land."

Rikako instantly looked at Reimu and Genji as soon as she heard the word 'Rika', the scientist knowing who they were talking about. "So you two know Rika, do you?" Rikako asked as she approached the two, the grown woman having to bend her knees because of how short the duo was. Rikako had a serious look on her face, looking somewhat different from her usual poker face of indifference.

"Oh, do you know who Rika is?" Reimu asked, the shrine maiden trainee not feeling a single iota of fear towards the glare on Rikako's face.

"Yes, she is my rival in creating robots and machinery." Rikako answered, keeping her glare. "Now tell me, how do you know her?"

"I beat her up and made her favourite tank explode." Reimu answered simply. "Twice."

Rikako's glare instantly turned into a happy face. "Good girl." The scientist said, patting Reimu on the head before standing upright and looking back at the screen.

The pictures closed in on themselves and the logo faded, though it was still noticeably there. The pictures of Reimu and Ellen respectively appeared at the top of the screen, the word 'Vs' appearing between the two pictures in a golden font. The same pictures of Marisa and Kotohime appeared underneath the pictures of Reimu and Ellen respectively, the same golden words appearing between those two pictures as well. The exact same thing appeared with Rikako and Kana's pictures. A the bottom was the single picture of Mima, alone and in the middle.

" _ **The first rounds have been decided~! First it will be Reimu versus Ellen, then Marisa versus Kotohime, and then Rikako versus Kana.**_ " Yumemi said through the invisible speakers, excitement noticeable in their voice, even with all the filters that made it hard to tell just what exactly Yumemi is. " ** _After the first three rounds are done, Mima can proceed to pick and fight a winner of her choice._** "

"Heh, letting me pick my own opponent? And letting me pick a winner for my opponent?" Mima said with pride in her voice, the tremendously powerful ghost flipping her hair with her hand in pride. "Whatever Yumemi is, they sure know how to respect the greatest sorcerer of all time~."

" ** _Uh... sure._** " Yumemi responded. " ** _Anyways, onto the first battle: Reimu Hakurei vs Ellen... Whatever-Her-Surname-Is._** "

* * *

Yumemi took her finger off the button next to the microphone as she watched Reimu and Ellen get into position, the two girls knowing to move to the centre of the room before fighting (though Reimu was riding Genji instead of walking herself), the other girls deciding to just spectate from the sides, where it was most likely the safest place.

"Pretty genius for a thought created on the spot, don't you agree, Chiyuri?" Yumemi said. "Not only will this make them tired and easy to capture, but it will also allow us to collect the final pieces of data that we need. Hahahaha~! This is truly killing two birds with one stone."

"Yeah, and after all this is over we'll return home and probably never return here again, unless if the community of science wants to 'visit' this place for more research on magic. Such as shame that we'll leave, but it isn't too much of a shame." Chiyuri said, also looking at the screens, as that is what she is meant to be doing, and not that she has much better to do at the moment. "It was really nice seeing all the magic and supernatural creatures here, but I'm feeling a little homesick from... well, home. I got so many things with my friends and my fandoms to catch up on."

"You'll have plenty of time to catch up on your fandoms when we show the Outside World our amazing breakthrough." Yumemi responded, looking at her student. "Also, weren't you the only one of my students who decided to go on this voyage with me because, in your own words, you're a recluse without any real friends."

"Oh-uh-um…" Chiyuri stammered, her face turning red like a tomato and hot like a kettle in embarrassment.

"Eh, whatever, at least you didn't laugh in my face. Damn college will regret the day they fired me for having unrealistic goals." Yumemi muttered, typing down on buttons. A total of four holes suddenly appeared on the roof of the battle room, each having a sphere that was almost the size of the Yin-Yang Orb come out of them, the spheres floating in the air without an apparent source. Each sphere had a red circle on them; small cameras to help with watching the fight and collecting data on magic. Yumemi smirked, looking at Ruukoto as the android maid stood there with emotionless eyes. "Ruukoto, get the extra bowl of strawberries!"

"As you wish." Ruukoto responded simply as she bowed towards her inventor, her voice robotic and monotone, like usual.

"There are more bowls of strawberries?" Chiyuri asked, the teenager using it as an excuse to forget about her earlier embarrassment.

"There's a whole fridge of them." Yumemi answered simply. Chiyuri looked towards Ruukoto, seeing the robot maid with a fridge light shining on her as she held the door open. Chiyuri's jaw had almost literally dropped of her body was she saw that the only thing within the fridge was bowls of strawberries. Ruukoto took one of the bowls out of the fridge without batting an eye to the absurd amount of strawberries, the android handing them to her creator, neither of the two taking any real care or notice to the fact that Chiyuri was left nonplussed. "Now, time to begin the duel~!"

* * *

"Okay, time to say what needs to be said: what the fuck are those?" Marisa asked. The magician protégé was so stoked earlier as Reimu and Ellen were about to fight, then all of a sudden these purple things with red eyes appear from the ceiling and look at everyone. They seemed to be something of Yumemi's, considering where they came from, though they weren't firing any danmaku. More screens appeared on the other walls, showing Reimu and Ellen from different angles.

" ** _These, you foul-mouthed little girl, are merely special_ _watchers._** " Yumemi said, the mysterious entity having listened to what the blonde said. " ** _They are simply here to show the battle at more interesting angles, to keep it interesting. Besides, it may be hard to see the two maidens fight when they could be flying around. Luckily, these advanced cameras of mine will keep up with them_** ** _and should remain undamaged. Now, commence the fight~._** "

"Well, this isn't what I expected when I woke up this morning." Reimu said, a bead of sweat dropping down the side of her head as she looked at the flying orbs, feeling a little uncomfortable with how they kept looking at her. The shrine maiden trainee looked at Ellen, the forgetful witch having a smile on her face as she rocked on her heels. "I bet you didn't expect this either, didn't you?"

"I don't really think much throughout my life anyways, I always forget my thoughts in seconds~." Ellen responded, the blonde witch outstretching her arms to her sides. Ellen suddenly focussed her eyes on Genji, her golden eyes displaying a sense of excitement. "Hey, you have an animal friend fighting alongside you, just like me~. That means it's a fair number of fighters in this duel~."

"You consider your cat to be a fighter?" Reimu asked.

"Sokrates is a really strong cat." Ellen responded, keeping her excited and innocent smile. "He could probably beat you on his own, if he gets serious and uses his full power. Hope you're a strong turtle, Ginji, because Sokrates and I make an unbeatable duo."

"My name is Genji." The turtle responded. "And I'm far stronger than I may appear, and I also have the blessed talent of intelligence. You do not stand a chance against a Hakurei maiden, even if she's a trainee."

Genji floated Reimu into the air, Ellen summoned her golden tornado, flying in the air with Sokrates on her shoulder, the white-furred cat keeping his indifferent expression. The battle had begun, Ellen immediately began to spin around on the spot, shooting out a large mass of heart-shaped danmaku that flew every which way. The clueless witch's danmaku had already proven to be heard to dodge, though it was still far from enough to make Reimu and Genji throw in the towel. As Genji flew himself and the last blood member of the Hakurei family out of the way of Ellen's danmaku, Reimu begun to shoot danmaku and ofuda at the blonde witch.

It seemed as though, even though she was aware of the fight, Ellen didn't seem to know anything about dodging as she continued to spin in place, letting Reimu's attacks hit her, though they didn't seem to hurt Ellen that much. Magic energy began to charge around Ellen, the witch summoning more of the metal orbs that moved in an expanding, spinning pattern. The orbs had provided to be easier to dodge, though that was mostly because there were few of them that Reimu and Genji had to dodge.

"It seems like you'll have to use the new trick you have been learning and mastering as of late, Lady Reimu." Genji said as he continued to dodge Ellen's array of hearts and balls.

"But I haven't fully perfected it yet, Gramps." Reimu said.

"I know, Lady Reimu." Genji responded, the turtle having a bit more trouble flying himself and Reimu out of the way as Ellen started to summon more and more of her metal orbs without slowing down with her barrage of heart-shaped danmaku in the slightest. "However, she is not making it easy for us. We're going to have to use more against her, even if it's what we have yet to perfect."

Reimu sighed, knowing that the ancient spirit was right. Reimu focussed her energy, summoning six regular-looking yin-yang, the shrine maiden trainee shooting them towards Ellen with some sort of invisible force. Ellen took notice of the yin-yang, the witch using her magic to make the golden tornado fly her and Sokrates out of the way. The yin-yang stopped as they were around where Ellen was once, exploding into many more yin-yang, albeit much smaller than the yin-yang they were made from.

"Wow, pretty~." Ellen said, the witch casting her hands in front of her, summoning multiple large fireballs that were shooting towards Reimu at fast speeds. The shrine maiden trainee and her turtle flew out of the way of the fireballs; despite their low speed, they were still able to move out of the way of the fire attacks in the nick of time, grazing at the hot magical attacks.

"Wow, neither of them are really holding back, huh?" Marisa said, wearing her enchanted glasses that allow her to see long distances, as Reimu and Ellen were so far away that they otherwise looked like dots to her. She could use the screens that Yumemi had put on the wall, but even then she could see Eggplant and Fluffy Head up closer with her magic glasses than with the screens. "Must admit, it's not as cool as I expected, though it's still pretty cool, I guess."

"It doesn't matter if the battle is cool, it matters that the battle is pretty." Kotohime said, the red-haired princess looking at the screen to watch the battle, as she couldn't see far and didn't have any magic glasses of her own.

"Nah, it's all 'bout firepower." Marisa said, taking off her magic glasses as she looked at Kotohime, a smirk on her face. "It doesn't matter if it looks beautiful or pretty or whatever, it all just matters that it causes a lot of destruction and beats the opponent."

"Your description of danmaku is the perfect explanation of what it should be, my student." Mima said, the ghost floating beside her protégé, once again seemingly sitting on her tail. "After all, that is the description that I made."

Kotohime huffed her cheeks in annoyance at the magician and her mentor, but decided to not argue with them further; she would rather focus on the pretty battle between Reimu and Ellen. Besides, she can just get her revenge against Marisa when she fights her later. A maniacal smile cracked into the edges of Kotohime's mouth; that will be a sweet revenge of beautiful danmaku.

Kana was just watching the battle through the wall screens without saying a word, enjoying the fight.

Rikako wasn't watching the fight, the self-proclaimed scientist instead reading a Bunbunmaru Newspaper as she had no real interest in battles, even though she lives in Gensokyo. Rikako knew well enough that the tengu that wrote the newspaper would often edit the truth to make her stories more interesting to sell more copies, but she still managed to keep herself amused by the papers, provided as long as she sees them as joke papers.

Back to the battle at hand, Genji and Reimu were still avoiding the fireballs being shot towards them by Ellen. Suddenly Ellen had stopped her fireball spell, the blonde witch looking at the orbs that Yumemi sent into the room in confusion, the witch seemingly having forgotten about them, in some shape or form.

"This looks like a good moment to attack." Genji said. Reimu didn't need to be told twice, the shrine maiden trainee shooting danmaku and ofuda at Ellen, seemingly doing more damage to her than before as she was off guard from the attack.

"Whoa~!" Ellen said as she was hit by Reimu holy danmaku and holy paper charms, the witch temporarily falling out of her golden tornado before surrounding herself with another one. "Wow, your magic is strong~! What kind of magic is it."

"I don't use magic. Instead I rely on holy power granted to me by the Hakurei God." Reimu answered, the shrine maiden trainee continuing to fire danmaku and ofuda at Ellen as the witch continued to dodge her attacks, mostly by creating a big distance between them.

"Holy magic granted by a god~?" Ellen exclaimed, the blonde stopping as she was amazed by the information. "Wow, what cool magic~."

"I already told you, it's not magic!" Reimu yelled, the maiden annoyed that Ellen ignored her statement of her power not being magic (not helped by the fact that that was basically the entire statement). "Holy power and magic are two different things, get it right!"

Ellen ignored Reimu's yelling, the witch summoning more of her metallic orbs, this time around Reimu. Genji, not left utterly annoyed like his master, was able to react to the orbs' sudden appearance and fly out of the way of the spinning objects. Unfortunately, Reimu wasn't as prepared, the little girl wobbling as the holy creature she was standing on had moved unexpectedly at fast speeds. Reimu's arms were flailing up and down at speeds so fast that they looked like a blur as she balanced on one leg and then onto the other, trying to regain her proper balance.

Sadly though, this attempt was fruitless a Genji had to keep moving when Ellen summoned more of the her metal balls and releasing a dense barrage of heart-shaped danmaku in a heart-shaped pattern. One of Ellen's pink bullets had managed to hit the wobbling shrine maiden trainee, sending her falling off Genji.

The turtle to instant notice of Reimu falling, flying down and catching her on his shell as fast as he could.

"I really... need to learn to fly by myself...!" Reimu growled as she laid on Genji's shell, her arms and legs sprawled all over the smooth, green case, the girl still feeling the power of her beating heart as the adrenaline from the fall was still being pumped into her. "I'm getting really... tired of falling off... Genji, look out!"

Genji looked to where Reimu was pointing, the turtle-like entity seeing more of Ellen's fireballs being shot towards him and Reimu. The turtle immediately flew up in the air with his trainee on his back, flying the duo out of the way of the witch's fireballs. Reimu and Genji were back on an even level of air with Ellen, the blonde witch ceasing her fireball spell and instead pointing her index finger towards the two.

"Let's change your hairstyle a little. Fuwa~!" Ellen said, lighting beginning to spark around the finger pointed towards Reimu and Genji, thunderbolts (or at least danmaku that looked like thunderbolts) began to shoot out of her finger, right towards the holy duo. Strangely enough, the lightning bolts were slower than the fireballs that Ellen used earlier, making it easier for Reimu and Genji to dodge them.

Reimu continued to fire danmaku and ofuda at Ellen, though the witch would just use the long distance between her and the shrine maiden trainee to have enough time to fly out of the way.

"Gramps, fly closer to Ellen." Reimu commanded. "She's too far away for me to hit her, you need to fly me closer!"

"As you wish, Lady Reimu." Genji responded, the old turtle-like entity flying towards Ellen at high speeds. Ellen was surprised as the duo suddenly appeared in front of her. Reimu took the witch's confusion as a chance to attack her, the shrine maiden trainee kicking Ellen and hitting her with her gohei. It seemed like the battle was now vastly in Reimu's favour as Ellen couldn't counter any of her attacks, the blond more apt in ranged attacks, thus she didn't know how to fight back as Reimu kept hitting her at such a close range.

"Waaah~! Sokrates, help me~!" Ellen begged as Reimu still used her combat skills against her. Sokrates hissed and growled at Reimu, the white-furred cat began to claw at her, or more appropriately her hair. Even though the angry cat was mostly clawing at her purple hair, it was still enough to cause Reimu to cease her close combat attack. Ellen grabbed hold of Sokrates, the witch commanding her golden tornado to fly both her and her cat away from Reimu until they were far away enough that the shrine maiden trainee could no longer kick and whack Ellen with her gohei.

"Are you okay, Lady Reimu?" Genji asked as he looked up at Reimu, mild blood coming from the top of her face, though it was far from anything serious.

"Yes, I'm okay, Gramps." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden trainee smiling down at the holy entity carrying her before looking back at Ellen as the witch put Sokrates back on her shoulder. Reimu flicked her wrist, her holy ofuda being held tightly between her fingers. "Don't think that I'm stopped yet."

"Weee~, this is so much fun." Ellen responded, spinning around with her arms outstretched. Ellen then stopped spinning, the blonde girl pointing her index finger at Reimu again, like when she used the thunderbolt spell, though there were no electrical sparks coming from the finger. "Lets see you play with this~. Fuwa~!"

Reimu raised an eye at Ellen, especially as what looked like sparkling glitter began to surround the witch's finger. Everything then suddenly went weird as it felt like gravity began to attack Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee barely able to stay on Genji's shell, much less stay standing. It didn't help that she had a dizzy feeling in her head, or that Ellen seemed to be spawning copies of herself with the room warping irregularly. And now that Reimu thinks about it, it felt like Genji himself was staying still.

"Jeez, what's with Eggplant and Fossil Face?" Marisa asked Mima as she looked at the holy duo, both barely able to keep still and having little spirals in their eyes.

"It's an extreme dizziness spell, Marisa. Otherwise known as a disorienting spell." Mima explained, the ghost deciding to use her magic to create her own version of the enchanted glasses that Marisa had created, the ghost using the enchanted item to have a closer look at Reimu and Genji. "It's a rather basic spell, though it can be really powerful if in the hands of a strong magician or witch. Simply by pointing their finger towards their target, the caster can shoot out a glitter-like object that can leave their target with a loss of balance and generally behaving like they are dizzy, hence the name. It may only last for a few minutes at the most, even in the hands of the strongest casters, but it can still be effective when used smartly."

"Uh huh." Marisa responded. "So why is _she_ affected by the spell."

Marisa was now pointing towards Ellen and Sokrates, the witch's finger pointing towards the witch and cat duo perfectly as her enchanted glasses allowed her to see them almost up close. Ellen too looked dizzy as her body began to stagger while still inside the golden tornado. Similarly, Sokrates could barely keep himself on the witch as his body was moving around like he was also dizzy, seemingly only keeping himself on Ellen by using his claws to keep hold onto her. Ellen and Sokrates also had spirals in their eyes.

"Oh, that is simple." Mima responded calmly. "If the spell is casted incorrectly, it will still work on the target, but the caster and those nearby will also be affected by its effects. It seemed that the magic idiot did the spell wrong, and now her and her cat have been affected."

* * *

It had only been a few minutes since the spell was casted on the two duos, still affected by the spell as it hadn't ceased yet, but it started to feel like hours to the bored Yumemi Okazaki. "Sheesh, these two are like stunned characters in a fighting game, except it is taking far too long for either of them to return to normal." The red-haired professor complained, shoving a strawberry in her mouth and eating it. "Sure we got to witness some new magic and learn about it by hearing that magic ghost explain it without knowing that we were listening, but this is now just boring."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Chiyuri said, leaning her elbow against the desk as she leaned her head against her hand, about as bored as her professor. "You'd think that a battle between two powerful magical girls would be more exciting with more things happening. I know this place has shown me sights that I have never expected to see before in my entire life, but this is something that I would prefer to have had it left like that. So boring."

Yumemi nodded slightly in agreement. The red-haired woman's eyes, previously half-lidded in boredom, widened in excitement as the dizzy effect was beginning to dispel as its time limit went off. All the others girls in the room, whom looked bored out of their minds (with the exception of Rikako, who was still uninterested in the battle and continuing to read the Bunbunmaru Newspaper for amusement), began to also regain interest. Yumemi wrote a command on the keyboard, one of the floating sphere cameras floating towards Reimu, Genji, Ellen and Sokrates, picking up what they were saying as they began to return to reality.

* * *

"Oh, what was that~?" Ellen asked, the blonde witch looking from side to side as she was still in the golden tornado that was carrying her. Sokrates no longer had the confused look on his face, the cat still sitting on Ellen's shoulder as he had the bored look on his face once again. Ellen looked back at Reimu, a smile on her face, though her eyes were enough proof that she was still confused. "What are we doing again?"

Reimu was silent as she looked at Ellen, the shrine maiden trainee's own memory coming back slowly as the disorienting spell had left her memory a little out of place, specifically about what was happening and slight time before the spell was casted. Luckily for Reimu and Genji, the purple-eyed little girl and turtle's memories came back before Ellen's could. Without hesitation, Reimu used the same black-white yin-yang trick she used earlier, except she focussed it purely on making many more, smaller yin-yang, hitting Ellen at a small range.

Having no time to react and still relatively damaged from the kicks and gohei whacks Reimu had given her, Ellen was hit by the small balls at full force, the golden tornado around Ellen disappeared, the blonde witch falling down to the ground.

Genji lowered himself and Reimu to the ground as Ellen made a loud thud. When the duo was back on the ground, they saw Ellen laying flat on her back, her arms and legs outstretched. She definitely wasn't dead, as she was breathing without problem, her eyes once again in spirals as she was knocked out. Sokrates was fine, the cat by the side of his master, tapping on the side of her body with his paw.

" _ **The battle between Reimu and Ellen has concluded!**_ " Yumemi announced with the invisible speaker. " ** _The winner of the first battle is Reimu Hakurei!_** "

* * *

 **That ends the first battle of this arc, though I honestly felt like it was a little underwhelming along the end. It was mostly because I felt like this chapter was going on for long enough, at least by the average word count of each chapter in this fic.**

 **The battle was mostly inspired by watching videos of what Reimu and Ellen would actually do in the game. With that said, that's why Reimu out of nowhere starts using danmaku that look like yin-yang, though at least I have wrote that Reimu has been learning and training it, so we could say it's an off screen thing.**

 **Next up will be Marisa versus Kotohime, one a maniac that loves multicoloured danmaku that causes a lot of destruction, the other a maniac that loves destructive danmaku that is pretty.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are allowed and appreciated.**


	20. Beauty of Danmaku

Reimu stood atop of Genji, the shrine maiden trainee and holy, turtle-like entity looking at Ellen, the witch still laying unconscious on her back with spirals in her eyes, noticeable signs of damage on her body and clothes. Sokrates was still by Ellen's side, looking completely undamaged, still prodding Ellen with his paw; the cat didn't look worried or was prodding her frantically, so Reimu could assume that Ellen was fine. But still...

"Did I go too rough on her?" Reimu asked, looking down at Genji. "I know I beat people up more than her, but they deserved it more than she did. And she's not a youkai or spirit. I know she's magic, but I don't know much about witches."

"Don't worry, Lady Reimu. Trust me, witches and warlocks are just as, if not more, resilient than youkai. She should be fine in a few minutes, especially if she knows any healing spells." The holy entity responded to the purple-haired maiden, looking up at her and giving her a reassuring smile. The turtle's smile then turned to a worried frown as he saw the cut on the side of the top of Reimu's head. The cut was no longer bleeding and what little blood that had oozed out had already dried - maybe a scab had already covered the cut and allowed it to heal - and Genji knew that Reimu had suffered worse, but there was still a niggling thought in the back of his old head... "I'm more worried about the cut on your head, I can't remember that last time I have ever seen you bleed."

"'T's nothin' to worry about, Fossil. Tis but a little scratch, Eggplant won't suddenly need to be rushed to the ER because of one little cut." Marisa said, the blonde magician suddenly appearing by Reimu's side, the protégé slinging her arm over the shrine maiden trainee's neck casually. "Congratulations, you bested Blondie The Forgetful Witch here. Now I won't have to feel embarrassed 'bout you being my friend."

"Oh yeah... I won." Reimu responded, the purple-haired girl scratching the side of her head with her gohei, feeling embarrassed for herself. "I guess I forgot about the purpose of my fight with Ellen because of that spell she casted and whatnot."

Reimu then noticed the other screens on the walls; they were mostly taken up by the picture of her, with the words 'WINNER' written underneath in golden caps.

"Hey, Marisa, do you know any healing spells that you can use to heal Reimu's head?" Genji asked of the powerful magician.

"Nope, don't know any healing spells. Mima never taught me and I think she's forgotten about them because she has spent so many years on her own as a ghost that doesn't need to be healed." Marisa shrugged nonchalantly. "'Sides, it's like I said: Eggplant won't be needing to be taken to the hospital because she's gotten a little bruise on her head."

" _ **Marisa Kirisame, Princess Kotohime, could you two please come to the centre of the battle room.**_ " Yumemi spoke, still no one could get a lead on whenever they were a human or demon or something else. The screens all around the room changed from the image of Reimu and the 'WINNER' words to the pictures of Marisa and Kotohime respectively, looking exactly like when Reimu and Ellen were about to fight. Marisa, still floating on her broomstick, flew towards the centre of the battle room without saying a word to Reimu or Genji. Kotohime was already near the centre of the room, the princess still having her kimono off and keeping her police outfit on, a calm smile on her face.

"What happened?" Ellen asked out of the blue as Reimu and Genji were looking away from her, the duo being startled as she was suddenly standing up, hands behind her back and an innocent look of confusion on her face. Ellen was still covered in cut and bruises, and her clothes were still ruined, but she didn't seem to take any notice of it. Nor did Sokrates, for that matter, as he just hung from Ellen's shoulder without a look of care on his face. Ellen looked down at her skirt, her golden eyes widening as she finally noticed the damage done to her body and wear. "Oh my, how did this happen, fuwa~?"

"I... we battled you." Reimu answered. Ellen looked at Reimu, her mouth slightly open as she was seemingly trying to remember who the shrine maiden trainee in front of her was. Luckily, it only took the witch a few seconds.

"Oh right, thank you, Raymoo. Looks like I need to fix this little mess on me, fuwa~." Ellen responded, the witch not taking notice of the slight cringe Reimu made from the out of nowhere mispronunciation of her name. Ellen merely raised her arms, being surrounded by a light green glow. The witch's entire body healed in front of Reimu's eyes, from the purple bruises fading away on her skin and flesh, to her clothes seemingly repairing itself, with completely destroyed parts even returning from thin air. In what felt like seconds, Ellen was completely healed, like she never battled Reimu in the first place. "Done~."

"Question." Reimu stated simply, the purple-haired trainee raising her arm. Ellen looked at her with a confused, yet happy, look on her face. The witch seemingly processed Reimu's question, giving her a nod. "If you could heal yourself, why didn't you do it during our battle."

"I sometimes forget about my healing spell; I sometimes forget about all my spells, in fact. I remembered the healing spell on the spot. And using the healing spell takes up a lot of energy, especially if it's a full body healing." Ellen explained, a large sweat drop falling down the side of her head as she felt embarrassed by the truth. Ellen then noticed the scratches of dried blood on the top of Reimu's head, the witch letting out a gasp of shock. "Oh my goody goodness, did Sokrates do this to you? Here, let me heal you, fuwa~."

Ellen hovered a hand over the cut area of Reimu's head, a light green glow coming from the witch's palm. The scratches on Reimu's head healed, even the dried blood and scab had disappeared from the shrine maiden trainee.

Reimu out a hand over the healed area, finding that it was in fact completely healed. "Wow, it's like it never happened." Reimu commented.

Genji was put at ease now that the scratches on the trainee's head were gone.

"Yo, Eggplant, if you're done smoochin' with Blondie over there, look here so you can see me beat this loser." Marisa yelled from over the middle of the battle room, looking over at the trio of mystic beings. Marisa was floating up and down over the floor on her broomstick, behind her was Kotohime, the vermillion-haired princess looking like she was trying to not look impatient.

"Come on. After that battle between the two, I've really wanted to have a cool battle of my own." Kotohime said, the woman summoning her pink cloud and stepping on top of it. "You better entertain me, Kirisame. If you leave me mad, I might get the royal guard to execute you~."

"Hah, I can tell a fib and joke from a mile away." Marisa responded, turning around towards the princess, a smirk on her face. "I know you're just using a morbid joke to intimidate me."

"Maybe I am~." Kotohime responded. "Though I can always lock you in the royal prison."

" ** _Marisa Kirisame, Princess Kotohime,_** " Yumemi said. Marisa and Kotohime both flew up into the air on their objects, an excited smile growing on both of their faces. " ** _Battle!_** "

Marisa and Kotohime flew up high into the air, like Reimu and Ellen. Kotohime immediately grabbed hold of the hilt of her katana, the princess trying to swing the large-looking weapon at Marisa. Marisa, however, was a quick thinker and reacted accordingly, flying backwards and away from Kotohime before the aforementioned princess could land a hit on her. Once Marisa was far enough from Kotohime, the magician pointed her wand towards the red-haired maniac, a large magic circle appearing behind the broomstick-ridding protégé. Star-shaped danmaku shot out of the magic circle towards Kotohime, the blonde even shooting a small, blue laser from the star on her wand.

Kotohime dodged the danmaku and laser with apparent ease, the princess even using her katana to shoot out a purple line as she swung her katana, the girl using both skill and magic to create that. The line cut through the air at high speeds, destroying Marisa's danmaku and heading towards the sorcerer without obstacle.

Marisa dodged the slash of the air by the skin of her teeth, grazing at her cheek and cutting some of her blonde hair, not that Marisa could care as she looked back at her opponent. Kotohime's mad grin was stretched along her face. Still wielding her katana, Kotohime faced her free hand towards Marisa, shooting danmaku towards the magician. Marisa, skilled in dodging danmaku from her training by Mima, avoided the danmaku; thankfully, none of Kotohime's danmaku were nearly as fast as the fast line she made with her sword.

Kotohime then grabbed hold of some of her bombs with her free hand, throwing them towards Marisa. The bombs made huge explosions, firing out danmaku bullets in a huge radius as they did so. Even though the bombs took up nearby space, Marisa was still able to dodge them. Marisa began to wave her wand around, the magician making magic circles fly around Kotohime, the princess taking notice of the seals of magic.

The magic circles rotating around Kotohime shot lines of simple white pellets towards the aforementioned princess; they may have not been that fast, but they were extremely dense. Nonetheless, Kotohime still managed to avoid the bullets and use her slicing attack to get rid of some of the danmaku that Marisa had summoned against her.

The blonde magician, however, was not deterred. The danmaku around Kotohime was merely a distraction as Marisa prepared her true attack. The blonde pointed her wand towards Kotohime, a sphere of blue light surrounding the star. Kotohime was too caught up in the danmaku attacking her from every angle, the princess caught in a reverie of danmaku beauty. Marisa let out a rapid fire of fireballs towards Kotohime, like what Ellen did to Reimu. The magic circles surrounding the maniac princess had ceased, the red-haired woman no longer blocking and avoiding danmaku and looking back towards Marisa. Kotohime's eyes went wide open as the fireballs came towards her. She tried to use her katana to destroy the fast-moving elemental attacks, but they were too quick for her and hit her, creating a giant cloud of smoke as a result.

"Ha, took her down with one attack~!" Marisa roared in self-proclaimed victory. "I knew she was weak. Honestly, I can go for another round with someone else. 'Ey, Yumemi, why don't you give me a real opponent~?"

"You shouldn't be asking for new opponents when you still have yet to beat your current one~." A playful voice said behind Marisa. The still-learning magician felt her heart skip a beat in surprise of the familiar voice; the maiden using her magic to turn her broomstick around a full one-eighty, seeing Kotohime, still well conscious and covered in burns that were only mild.

"What the-?! How'd you sneak past me?" Marisa asked. Kotohime didn't answer, keeping a playful, little smile on her face, her eyes completely shut. Kotohime suddenly swung her sword towards Marisa, the magician using her magic to make the broomstick fly straight backwards, out of the range of the crazy princess' katana. Kotohime didn't bother opening her eyes, merely smirking. The princess grabbed some of her bombs and threw them towards Marisa, obviously exploding as they came near the blonde. Even with the danmaku-creating bombs, Kotohime still didn't believe that it was enough for Marisa in one go; the princess using her magic sword slash attack.

"It is easy to sneak around your opponent when they are too caught up on their high horse~." Kotohime finally explained as she ceased her attack, allowing Marisa to stop and catch her breath.

"I must admit... you're a lot cooler than most princesses... At least most princesses that I can think of." Marisa said, huffing as she was still trying to regain her breath, her heart pounding against her chest, each beat being felt around her entire body from the sheer surprise of what her opponent attempted. "You definitely don't look like the dope princess that would just lounge around drinking tea and eating cakes, waiting for someone to kidnap her so she can be rescued by a brave knight that becomes her husband or whatever."

"The last time someone tried to kidnap me, I instead threw a bomb in their face and had them locked up in the dungeon~." Kotohime replied in a sing-song voice, the princess sliding her fingers along the side of her katana's blade. Kotohime opened her eyes, her red eyes twinkling with glee of ineffable excitement. "Oh, but a life of a princess is of no matter. Let's continue our battle, let us fill this room with danmaku of radiant glory~!"

Kotohime tossed more bombs towards Marisa, the insane princess shooting a barrage of danmaku along with her bombs. "Ha, with it's a ton of powerful and colourful danmaku that you want, then it's what you get." Marisa said, the magician smirking as she avoided the attacks. Once again, it was preferable that her incredibly fast sword slashes weren't being used, especially as she was no a further distance from the princess. Marisa raised her wand high in the air, the rod glowing with magic power once again. "But don't think you can just quit when it starts gettin' tough."

Marisa waved her wand around, summoning lightning and icicles from above, and a vast myriad of thin, blue lasers that could cut easily through even some of the strongest of metals. Kotohime's mad smile had merely grew even bigger, the princess continuing to shoot out danmaku and bombs as she avoided Marisa's attacks. The aforementioned maiden wasn't playing around either, also simultaneously dodging and firing away magical attacks.

* * *

"Wow, these two are making the magic radar go crazy...!" Chiyuri said as she looked at the screens that displayed the levels of magic power within the battle room. "I think the only time when the readings were even bigger was when the shrine maiden trainee and the protégé were fighting against the powerful ghost."

"Yes, quite." Yumemi agreed, though she was focussing more on the screens that showed the battle between Kotohime and Marisa. "I expect the magic readings today to be some of the highest that we have ever captured; not only is this closest that we have ever gone to real magic, but we have had the luck of having some powerful magic users come to the Probability Space Hypervessel."

"Yes, good reason." Chiyuri commented, bringing her eyes towards the battle as well. Kotohime raised her hand up in the air, a bomb that was at least thrice the size of her regular ones materialising above her and land on her palm. With seemingly no struggle whatsoever, Kotohime had thrown the large bombs towards Marisa, the weapon not waiting a second the explode as soon as she was near its explosive range. Even when Marisa was out of the range of the bomb, the mere force of the explosion was still enough to send the witch flying through the air. Miraculously, Marisa was able to keep her triple spell combo active as she was hit. "Jeez, she may be younger than me, but she can take a hell of a stronger hit than I can."

"Do not worry, my assistant." Yumemi said comfortably, though she didn't take her eyes off the battle on the screen, which she considered to be epic. "I doubt that she, or anyone else for that matter, will be able to fight when we activate that trap. And even if they escape, they shouldn't have enough strength left to beat you. Though you should still prepare to fight. Unless we are certain that they are all trapped, we must remain prepared to get our hands dirty."

Chiyuri let out an audible gulp at the thought of having to fight any of the girls in the battle room - all of whom have displayed their own impressive power - but Yumemi didn't acknowledge it as she wrote notes down.

* * *

"You're pretty fun, I'll admit that~!" Kotohime said as she floated towards Marisa on her cloud, avoiding the array of lightning, icicles and lasers. The red-haired princess unsheathed her katana, as she had covered it again when she focussed on her bombs and danmaku, holding it high above her as she prepared to use it against Marisa. "Don't worry, I won't kill you. Just be careful to not struggle or fidget, I don't want to accidently cut you at a vital spot~."

"Yeah, no." Marisa responded, the magician stopping her triple spell combo so she wouldn't be wasting her magic energy as she uses the next spell. Just as Kotohime was about the cut her with her katana, Marisa used her wand to protect herself with a translucent, blue sphere that acted as a shield. The katana stopped as it made collision with the shield. Kotohime's crazy smile went away, disappointment on her face, though she still looked relatively entertained.

"Hehehehe~, so the fun can last even longer. Wonderful, it would admittedly be a bit boring if the battle would have just ended like this~." Kotohime said, the princess floating away as there was no longer any danmaku in the air, putting her katana back in its sheath. Marisa dispelled her shield spell, though she kept her fingers wrapped tight around her wand, prepared to cast another shield in case Kotohime tries to use an attack out of the blue. "I heard that you're the protégé of Mima. I remember some bedtime stories that my older sister would sometimes tell me when I'm was misbehaving, or when she just wanted to scare me for her amusement. She would tell me that Mima is a powerful and wicked ghost that would hunt down and eat children that weren't doing as they were told. Is it true about Mima?"

"Yep. Well, at least the whole thing of her bein' powerful." Marisa responded, the magician trying to create a bigger distance between her and Kotohime, once again in case the princess plans on using a sudden attack. Shoot and she'll move, that's Marisa's moto... outside of blast the living hell out of everything that moves. "I don't remember her ever saying anything 'bout eating children, just traumatising and sacrificing them. I think some of the rumours of her existence back at the Human Village mention her eating children, but some of them mention her being a man, so I take what they say with a grain of salt."

(Back down at the area of the battle room, everyone that was watching the battle looked at Mima, Reimu's was noticeably more nervous than the others. "Don't worry, I don't eat children. Jeez, never thought I would ever have to say that again." Mima responded to their stares, the ghost making an annoyed shrug. "Though I can vouch the whole being a man thing, being a ghost means that you aren't as limited or anchored to a physical form as the living, though it was more of a thing of curiosity.")

"Ah, so you must be pretty tough yourself~." Kotohime said, floating closer towards Marisa.

"Hah, I'm more than tough~!" Marisa responded, the maiden making a huge grin and pointing at herself with her thumb. "I'm the protégé of the most awesome magic user to have ever lived, I have power that can leave even some of the bravest warriors whimpering in fear like a bunch of cowardly dogs~!"

"And yet you can seem to beat me~." Kotohime remarked, her expression turning a little smug, her comment causing Marisa to glare at her. "Though I was born with some powerful magic in me, and I do like to sometimes train to starve off my boredom."

"Hey, I still heard what you said 'bout me not beating you!" Marisa yelled. Marisa flew up into the air, the blonde outstretching her arms to her side, creating two magic circles that were even bigger than her. The two magic circles were golden in colour, both charging up a high concentration of pure magical energy in their respective centres. "Well then, let's see how you like this then!"

Both of Marisa's magic circles shot gigantic beams of pure and destructive light and magical energy, both beams were aimed towards Kotohime, the princess flying out of the way in the nick of time. Kotohime unsheathed her katana, slashing her special purple lines of seemingly limitless cutting and slicing ability. Marisa quickly noticed the attack that she was really not liking, the magician firing the large beams once again, this time towards the fast-moving purple line. Luckily, in Marisa's case, the beams she was firing were strong enough to destroy the purple line. Marisa smirked, the magician finally having a way to get past that annoying slash attack that Kotohime possessed. If only the spell that she could use to rid of the slash attack didn't tax so much energy from her.

But that was beside the point, Kotohime had evaded the attack despite being clear in the range.

Kotohime didn't waste time in using danmaku and her katana slash attack, the princess getting simultaneously excited and terrified of the magician she was fighting, knowing now that she truly is indeed a threatening opponent.

Marisa flew out of the way of the danmaku and slash attacks, grazing at her body but thankfully not cutting at her clothes or skin. Marisa took off her witch hat, the maiden reaching into it and pulling her hand out, three respective bottles of a glowing, blue liquid between her fingers. Marisa took of the respective corks and threw the bottles, the blue glow of the liquids intensifying. Marisa threw the potions towards Kotohime, all three of them exploding in front of the red-haired girl. Kotohime had to covered her eyes as the explosions made a bright glow that almost blinded her. Not only were the explosions bright, but they gave off intense heat that almost made the princess sweat.

Kotohime opened her opened her eyes, seeing a large mass of whirling circles of multiple colours mostly block her vision. Kotohime blinked, trying to restore her eyesight. The maniacal princess rubbed her eyes, the sensitive organs mostly healing and allowing her to see clearly again, save for the small, spinning circle in the corner of her eye.

"Well, that was a bit of an annoyance." Kotohime said plainly, reaching down towards her sword strap, which is where she was certain where she put her katana. "If she was trying to run away, she was greatly... Where is it?"

Kotohime looked down at her body, finding her katana to be nowhere in sight. The police officer costume-wearing princess frisked her body, finding her weapon nowhere. Kotohime was getting mad, her sacred katana just disappeared off of the face of existence!

"Where in the seven Hells did my katana disappear to?!" Kotohime yelled.

"Looking for this~?" Marisa asked from behind Kotohime. The aforementioned princess ceased her action, turning around to see Marisa a certain distance away from her, the magician holding her katana.

"You! Give that back!" Kotohime yelled, the princess no longer showing the playful nature she had shown earlier; now she just incredibly angry. "That katana is special, a family heirloom! ...Well, we have a lot of heirlooms in my family, but I still love it and it's still valuable...!"

"Ooooh~, valuable, eh~?" Marisa responded, the magician enjoying that she was now the one with the upper hand in this battle. Or maybe it's the fact that she's got Kotohime to show a different side of herself. Or maybe it's just that she has finally gotten her hands on something valuable. Or maybe a combination, of sorts, of the three. "Tell me, how valuable is it, Koto-koto~?"

"Kotowhat?" The vermillion-haired princess responded, confused by the nickname that Marisa was now using for her. Kotohime quickly shook her head from side to side. "That doesn't matter. That katana has been in the family ever since at least when my grandparents were born. From what I heard, it was expensive, even for our family. Give it back, now!"

"Actually, I think that I won't~." Marisa responded, the blonde girl smirking as she saw the furious look on Kotohime's face. Oh, it was so sweet that Marisa could almost taste it. "You see, if this katana is really as valuable as you say, then it might make a great decoration. I might even place it near my bed, maybe I'll even take the sheath and use it to sleep with the katana without fearing of the thing cutting me."

"How dare you!" Kotohime roared as the cloud she was riding on began to shoot towards Marisa at high speeds, the surprisingly powerful princess riding it with ease. "You'll be lucky to be an old maiden by the time I let you out of the royal prison!"

"You really need to _chill_ out, Red." Marisa responded, still smirking as she pointed her wand towards the oncoming princess, the small star at the end being surrounded by charging magic energy and ice-cold air. Kotohime quickly caught on to the fact that Marisa was going to use an ice spell on her, most likely a freeze spell for a quick win. Kotohime raised her hand in the air, charging up magical energy into it, a giant bomb appearing, bigger than the princess herself, above the princess' hand. Kotohime threw the bomb towards Marisa, the object now between the two maidens. Marisa's ice spell had hit the bomb instead of Kotohime, exactly as the princess had hoped. Marisa's eyes widened as she saw the ice-coated bomb in front of her. "That wasn't what I planned!"

"Foolish thief." Kotohime said, the princess using Marisa's moments of confusion to quickly appear behind her. Kotohime reached for her katana, her hand nearly around the edge of the hilt. Marisa managed to notice the princess behind her, as well as her quick hand. Using her magic wand, Marisa managed to use it to take a telekinetic grab of the sword by the blade, pulling it away from Kotohime's reach. Kotohime widened her eyes, Marisa used the moment of frozen confusion to quickly ram her broomstick into Kotohime's gut, the princess nearly falling off her cloud.

"Take this!" Marisa yelled, pointing the wand right at Kotohime's gut, where she rammed the broomstick into. Magic energy fired up in the star, shooting out a giant star-shaped danmaku bullet into the area of the princess' body. Kotohime fell off her cloud and plummeted towards the floor, hitting it with a loud thud, just like Ellen had.

" _ **The battle between Marisa and Kotohime has been concluded!**_ " Yumemi announced, just like how they did with the end of the battle between Reimu and Ellen. Marisa knew what the mysterious being was going to say next. " ** _The winner of the second battle is Marisa Kirisame!_** "

"Hahahahaha! How do you like that, Red?" Marisa said as she lowered down to the floor. Kotohime quickly regained consciousness, the princess seemingly only having minor injuries as she sat upright and rubbed her temple of her head. Still keeping a telekinetic hold on Kotohime's katana, Marisa kept it hovering mockingly above the red-haired, a smirk on the magician's face. Kotohime's eyes widened as she looked at the floating katana pleadingly, the sword always floating out of her reach before her fingers could even touch it. "Aw, what's the matter? Still want to precious sword~?"

"Marisa, give her back what belongs to her!" Reimu yelled suddenly, the shrine maiden trainee throwing a large yin-yang at Marisa, hitting the protégé square in the face, knocking the maiden off her broomstick. The yin-yang that Reimu summoned had vanished into thin air, the purple-haired maiden having walked off Genji's shell and towards Marisa and Kotohime. Reimu stood in front of Marisa, the trainee's hands on her hips as she looked at Marisa disapprovingly.

"What the Hell, Reimu?!" Marisa yelled angrily.

"That katana was important to the princess." Reimu said simply. As the shrine maiden trainee and magician protégé were in their scuffle, Kotohime had noticed that Marisa lost her telekinetic hold of her katana, the insane princess quickly grabbing hold of her katana and hugging it like a new, baby pet. "You shouldn't hold it above her like that. That's bullying."

"So what? She was trying to cut me with that freakin' thing!" Marisa yelled.

"Yeah, but she wasn't trying to kill you!" Reimu yelled back.

Before either of the girls could say or do anything else, they were both taken up into the air by an invisible force, unable to do anything. "Alright, break it up, you two." Mima said in annoyance, the ghost being the one responsible for the telekinetic hold. Mima was rubbing the temple of her spectral head. "Honestly, a bunch of children arguing is one of my biggest headaches. Just be children and forgive each other in seconds before I lose my temper."

"Alright, alright, fine." Reimu said, not liking in being in this psychic hold. The trainee looked at Marisa. "Marisa, promise me that you'll never steal again."

"Ugh, fine! I promise I'll never steal from any mortal again." Marisa lied, having no intentions of stopping her thievery. Though, considering her wording, she could use it as a loophole for if Reimu ever gets mad at her from stealing from anyone that is immortal, like a youkai.

Mima let go of her telekinetic hold of both Reimu and Marisa, the maidens going back onto their holy and ancient turtle and broomstick respectively.

" _ **Okay, if you three are done, we would like to go onto what everyone really cares about.**_ " Yumemi said, having kept their eyes and ears on what the two maidens and ghost were doing. " ** _Rikako Asakura, Kana, it is time that you two fought._** "

The scientist and ghost went to the centre of the room, knowing the disembodied wouldn't make the fight official until then. Though the scientist still didn't really care much about fighting.

As Reimu decided to sit down atop of Genji, the shrine maiden trainee knowing that she would just have to sit down and watch the battle of unknown possibility, she was approached by Kotohime, the princess having a grateful expression, her katana back in its sheath. "Thank you for giving me my katana back." Kotohime said. "That little girl was so mean, not giving me back my precious treasure. Is there any way that I can thank you?"

"You're a princess, right? You're rich, right?" Reimu asked. Kotohime nodded in response. "Well my shrine doesn't get many donations, you could donate to my shrine."

Back at the centre of the battle room, Rikako and Kana approached each other, the two females standing a few inches away from each other.

"So, looks like we will have to fight each other." Rikako said, her face indifferent and her voice monotone. "Normally I would rather not fight, but since this is for the sake of learning new facts about science, I won't hold back."

"Oh, are you going to use your magic against me?" Kana asked, the poltergeist seemingly having a happy expression on her face, though her eyes seemed to show that she was in a different place. "Because even I can sense that power of yours. I wouldn't really stand a chance against you if you unleashed such magical might on me."

"NO! I will absolutely not!" Rikako yelled, her purple eyes showing a fiery rage. "I hate magic with a passion; it would take something far more than this current situation to make me use my magic. Besides, it's logic. You can't learn more about science by using magic; if science is what I'm going to learn, science is what I'm going to use."

"Very well." Kana responded, her smile widening and seemingly becoming somewhat malicious. "This'll be a whole lot of fun~."

* * *

 **Now that's the end of the Marisa versus Kotohime battle. Yeah, this is definitely something that is different from _Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream_ , as instead of Reimu fighting all of the other characters in the game (sans Mima) before going on to fight Chiyuri and Yumemi, she's going to have a few chapters where she can sit back and watch other people struggle in battle. And of course, this chapter is completely devoid of any Reimu fight scenes.**

 **The main intention of the battle was to make Marisa go through what Reimu has been going through the last few chapters, having to face a foe that seems to be stronger than her before finding a way to defeat her. This is mostly because Marisa will definitely become a main character later on, specifically when we enter the Windows era.**

 **The battle may have been shorter than expected, specifically since only unique things that I could think of Kotohime having in her arsenal are bombs and a supposed katana. Regular danmaku can get pretty boring to write about when you have to write about it constantly.**

 **The next battle should be a more neutral one, where it seems to be a mostly even ground between Rikako and Kana, as neither will become main characters later on (I do have plans of having them reappear after the end of this current arc, especially the latter, which could include the Windows era, but neither of them will ever become the main protagonists of this story, at least to the extent that Reimu and Marisa will have).**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are appreciated and welcomed.**


	21. Visionary Game

"Jeez, do you really think that we'll be able to get any good scans of magic from this battle?" Chiyuri asked of Yumemi, the blonde teenage dubious of what useful data they can get from the battle that will start in any second. "I mean, one of them isn't going to use magic. And the other is a poltergeist, so we don't know what more data we can collect from her. Don't even know if the battle will be interesting... The battle will probably just be won by the ghost in an instant."

"Your theory may be true; we may not be able to get much data of magic from this battle, but that is part of the intention." Yumeko responded, a sure smile on her face. Chiyuri raised an eyebrow at the professor, not even needing to ask her question to get the answer in response. "You see, even though everyone that we have managed to get here possess some tremendous magical powers, those two are the least likely to give us any data we need. The so-called scientist may possess magic power that could allow her to do more than hold her own against Mima, she is far too reluctant to ever use it. As for the poltergeist? She seems more reliant on using telekinesis and her own little phantoms than using the full power that she has, if she is even aware of such power. This was intended to waste as little research as possible."

"Oh, I get it." Chiyuri said, finally catching up on the red-haired woman's wavelength. "You purposely did this because even though we could have an abundant harvest of magic data with the others, those two will give us little results no matter who you pit them against. You're letting the strong ones fight each other so the weak ones won't hinder our collection."

"Indeed~! That is why you're my top student, Chiyuri, you can actually catch on to what I'm thinking about." Yumemi said, looking at the blonde happily. Yumemi then suddenly looked at the amount of magic data that they have collected throughout the day, her face becoming more stern. She walked towards the computer screen and began tapping away at the keyboard, the screen changing to show all of the magic data that has been collected throughout the voyage. "However, I hope that this battle between them can end quickly, and that Mima picks someone strong who will supply us with enough data of magical power. We have to return home in a few hours at the least with everything we've obtained if we desire for the countless professors to listen to all our research, and sadly we don't have our full quota of data yet."

"W-well there were many places that we could have picked up a ton more magic data in the past, if our Strawberry Birds didn't have those things happen to them." Chiyuri said, trying to get Yumemi out of her little angry mood. "There was that large mansion, for example. We kept on picking up tremendous signals of power there, but every time we got a Strawberry Bird to come close, they would either suddenly warp away from it or get destroyed by a bunch of throwing knives. Or that bamboo forest, where the Birds would either get lost or burned by the phoenix lady by accident. Or-."

"Enough, I get it, Chiyuri." Yumemi said to the student, tapping down on the same keyboard as earlier to change the screen back to the amount of magic data collected that day. "We've had mishaps in the past, but we are coming close to finally achieving our goals. Though, if God is truly smiling down on us, that poltergeist will get Rikako to finally use her magic."

* * *

Kana floated into the air, letting out a chorus of high-pitched laughs that emitted from her simultaneously; a common poltergeist trick that she used to use in the days when she was feared by those she haunted. Kana raised her arms, multiple formless phantoms appearing around her as she summoned them into existence, eyes and mouths that were as black as darkness appearing on their faces.

" _Oh Rikako~, it's time to play~!_ " Kana said, still using the legion of high-pitched voices that she used for her laugh.

Rikako didn't know if Kana was trying to scare her or if it was just something she was doing out of excitement, but in the end she honestly didn't care. It was for the sake of science that she was in these weird ruins in the first place, and it is that same reason that was staying in there. The scientist activated her jetpack, flying up in the air and going on a somewhat even level with Kana.

"Let's just get this over with." Rikako said simply.

Kana laughed again, the legion of voices sounding more mad than before. The poltergeist shot her arm towards the scientist, the many phantoms forming around her flying to the purple-haired woman. Rikako reached into her lab coat, pulling out a little green sphere. The woman pressed a button that was in the orb before throwing it towards the oncoming crowd of phantoms. The orb split into four duplicates of itself that were of the exact same size, spinning around in a circle at speeds that made them look like illusions to the naked eye of most humans. The spinning orbs headed towards the phantoms, knocking them away as they head towards Kana, the ghost not afraid of the attack.

" _So what if those hurt the phantoms? It's not like they are real ghosts._ " Kana said in her supernatural voice, not even making an effort to get out of the way of the scientist's attack, as she was absolutely certain that she would remain unscathed from it. " _Your balls will just pass through me, I have nothing_ to-."

There was suddenly a sensation in Kana's gut, a sensation that she hasn't felt in more years than she can count. It was a feeling that she never liked, and even to this day where she has almost forgotten about it entirely, she still hated it with a passion. And because of how long it has been since she last felt it, before she had even died, the sensation came back to her with more force or power than ever before. It had burned more than a sting from a hornet.

It was pain. After so many decades of no longer feeling pain as she transcended the world of mortals, the world of physical existence, she had felt pain again for the first time in forever. She could only remember the sensation because everyone around her would feel it from time to time, if it weren't for that then she would have completely forgotten about the concept of pain.

It Kana a while to fully process the returning sensation as the green orb continued to push into her spectral stomach. And the longer it took her recognise what she was feeling, the worse the sensation had became.

And as Kana finally processed the pain she was feeling, she let out a wailing scream. It was blood-curdling in its might; it sounded like a mixture of a human scream and something that was of the ghostly realm completely. The sound had broke through the air, sounding louder than the crash of thunder. Even from the distance that she was from the poltergeist, Rikako still had to cover her ears as it felt like the unholy sound was going to turn her deaf. It even sounded loud to Reimu, Genji, Marisa, Mima, Ellen, Sokrates and Kotohime, though none of them had to cover their ears.

The spinning spheres attack had vanished, though that didn't stop the sensation of pain that throbbed within the poltergeist's stomach, a sensation that she could never endure in the first place. Kana had seemingly fell on her back, still remaining in the air because of her transcendence of physical laws, clutching her belly as it continued to feel like a cold knife was being dug deep into it.

As the horrific sensation began to leave Kana, the poltergeist began to ceased her inhuman shriek. The ghost continued to lay on the air, taking in deep breaths as she was recovering from the sensation that had almost felt traumatic in its intensity. A cold sweat was actually coming from Kana's forehead, the poltergeist beginning to float back up until she was floating in the air correctly. The poltergeist immediately began glare at Rikako, the magician-turned scientist feeling like she may have lost a few brain cells from the loud roar that Kana had let loose.

" _You!_ " Kana snapped at Rikako, the scientist glaring back at her for that loud scream that she unleashed out of the blue. " _I didn't believe you to be anything more than something to paly with; just a toy made for my amusement. But now that I know that you can... hurt me, I will not toy with you anymore. How could you even hurt me when no one else in the past could?_ "

"It's simple, really." Rikako answered. Kana took the moment to create more phantoms, the poltergeist forming them together into one ginormous phantom, one that Kana had sent straight towards Rikako. The scientist was well aware of the giant phantom that Kana had sent towards her, the purple-haired scientist pulling out a cylinder tube from her lab coat, pointing it towards the giant phantom, which was slightly slower than the regular phantoms that Kana had conjured. "You see, there are actually some special metals in Gensokyo that can touch and even hurt ghosts,"

Rikako clicked a button on the tube, a small rocket shooting out of the end facing towards the phantom, creating a massive explosion that was like that of a firework.

"These metals are rare and were a nightmare to obtain, but I still manged to get my hands on them." Rikako continued. There was smoke coming out from the side of the cylinder that shot out the rocket, the scientist putting the tool back into her coat. Rikako then suddenly reached deeper into her coat and a sound like that of a button being pressed was heard from within. The same spinning spheres that surrounded her during the fight against Yumemi's creations had returned and did the same thing again, though this time they weren't firing danmaku. For now, at least. "And it doesn't change that danmaku, whenever it's real or artificial, can still hurt a ghost nonetheless."

" _I see, so I just have to avoid whatever you shoot towards me._ " Kana said, the poltergeist smirking. " _Whatever, as long as I don't have to feel pain again, I don't care what it is._ "

A giant frenzy of formless phantoms suddenly emerged from Kana's spectral form, the creatures flying towards Rikako. The scientist didn't so much as blink and eye as she had somehow commanded the spinning orbs to begin firing danmaku, the plain white bullets firing in an uninteresting, yet effective pattern that managed to destroy the phantoms. It seemed like all that was needed was just one simple bullet to defeat each of them.

It was then that Rikako suddenly felt a completely supernatural presence behind her, the scientist turned around (and manoeuvre more easily said then done, since she was relying on a jetpack to fly, because of her instance on not using magic), seeing Kana float behind her with a stop sign in her hands, obviously being used as a weapon. Kana swung the stop sign hard on Rikako's head, the girl managing to shrug off the attack and its damage, as, despite how reluctant she was to admit it, she was still a magician, and thus her physical capabilities were far above that of other humans.

Nevertheless, the hard slam had hurt. However Rikako was given little time to rub her head to make it feel better as she was suddenly pushed towards the floor by an invisible force. It wasn't hard to tell that Kana was using her telekinesis to push the scientist without touching her.

Luckily for Rikako, even though Kana was using telekinesis to push towards the floor, she wasn't using that same power to keep a hold on her limbs, meaning she could still move them. In other words, she could still use the weapons she had invented.

Rikako reached into her lab coat and took out the cylinder tube, pressing on the same button from earlier, rockets shooting out of the cylinder towards the poltergeist. Kana's eyes widened as she saw the rocket shoot towards her at high speeds. Knowing that those rockets could actually give her the horrific and ultimately undesirable sensation of pain, the blonde-haired girl avoided the rocket, the fire that was moving the projectile grazing against her cheek.

Kana let out a hiss with the myriad of voices that she was using, almost going back into the pseudo-demonic voice she was using when she was screaming, the ghost putting her hand against her cheek. Kana glared at Rikako as the scientist shot more rockets towards her, this time the poltergeist dodged the rockets and even used her telekinesis to flip some of the rockets to shoot back towards Rikako.

Rikako didn't make even a scream, nor did she widen her eyes. Rikako kept a poker face as she threw wrenches and bolts at the rockets, the weapons exploding. "Do what you want, I know that you have a immense aversion for pain." Rikako said as she tried to see Kana, the poltergeist seemingly hiding behind a cloud of smoke. "I just have to hurt you enough and you will have no choice but to let me win. Even those that are immortal or dead can still lose if they can no longer tolerate the pain."

" _Well then, you're just going to have to hit the right one then._ " Kana responded, her voice sounding even more like a unison than before, like the number of voices has doubled. The smoke cleared, showing two Kanas, the two ghosts were smiling at the purple-haired scientist. " _One of us is the real one, the other is a fake. You can't hurt the fake one, the fake is made of phantoms. Are you ready to give up now, Rikako~?_ "

"No, I won't give up, not if the possible reward is learning of more science." Rikako responded, the danmaku-shooting orbs still spinning around her at extremely fast speeds, the scientist still holding her cylinder as it still had a few rockets in it - though it was questionable if it would be a good decision to use it, as Kana could just make the rockets shoot back towards her - a look of determination on her face. "And stop using that stupid voice; it's not intimidating, just annoying."

"Oh fine then, Killjoy." The two Kanas responded angrily at the same time, now using a regular voice, there arms crossed over their respective spectral chests.

* * *

"Huh, this battle is taking longer and being more exciting than I thought." Chiyuri commented as she watched the battle, reaching for some of the strawberries in the latest bowl that Yumemi got Ruukoto to bring. Luckily the professor wasn't feeling stingy with her favourite food, so Chiyuri wasn't hit in the head by Yumemi. "I must admit... I know you're a genius, but this is a different kind that I didn't expect from you."

"Honestly, even I was surprised by this outcome." Yumemi admitted, also eating some of the strawberries, the redhead shrugging nonchalantly at the battle as Rikako was avoiding the two poltergeists as they tried to hit her with stop signs that they were wielding. "Whatever, we're not getting much magic data anyways. The battle's not all that interesting anyways."

"It could always be more boring." Chiyuri said.

"True, true." Yumemi said, shoving a strawberry into her mouth. "But it would still be better if it was more exciting."

* * *

Sweat was falling down from Rikako's forehead to the rest of her face as she was avoiding the two poltergeists that were trying to hit her with outside world items, the scientist having set her danmaku orbs to fire all around her in rapid speed and high density. It was enough to keep the two Kanas and their agliophobia away from her as she tried to think of a way to defeat them. The scientist suddenly felt an invisible force touch her from all around, the girl being pulled out of her safety ring of danmaku-shooting inventions.

"Heeheeheeee~." One of the Kanas giggled as she flew in front of Rikako, looking incredibly giddy. "Sorry~, looks like I win this~."

"Not just yet, you don't." Rikako said, a smirk appearing on her face. "Didn't you know that the Defence Orbs are programmed to surrounded and protect me whenever they are on?"

The Kana in front of Rikako raised an eyebrow, realising what the scientist said at too late of a time as the spinning orbs suddenly surrounded Rikako again, the danmaku that they were shooting in rapid fire hitting the poltergeist. The Kana let out a scream of pain, though it wasn't something otherworldly, like the scream that Kana made when Rikako hit her with her other mass of spinning orbs. It was at that moment that a idea struck Rikako. Though, that wasn't important as the Kana in front of her went completely white, from top to bottom, even her clothes turned a white colour.

The Kana in front of Rikako burst apart into multiple phantoms, being the fake Kana. Rikako could no longer feel the psychic hold around her, the scientist able to turn around and look at the real Kana, the real poltergeist still holding her stop sign.

"So, you beaten the fake me." Kana commented, the spectral being not looking disappointed or angry in the slightest. Instead, a little grin grew on her face. "No matter, I can just create more."

Indeed, more phantoms suddenly appeared around Kana, the formless creatures forming together until there were a total of five Kanas, which was enough to make Rikako drop her jaw incredulously. However, Rikako still remembered about her mighty invention. As the poltergeists began to shoot fireballs of blue flame towards her, Rikako dodged the attacks and charged up her own, the magician-turned-scientist taking out and throwing another set of four green spheres that grew in size as they entered the air, spinning around at intense speeds, though they didn't fire any danmaku.

Nevertheless, they had hit away the danmaku that went in their way, hitting and destroying the four fake Kanas. Kana, the real one, had manged to dodge the attack before it disappeared, albeit just barely. Before the poltergeist could think of using her telekinesis, or any else of that sort, Rikako began to shoot rockets at her.

Even though Kana had no physical heart, being an entity of spiritual energy and ectoplasm, she did feel something of similar nature leap in her throat. The ghost began to fly away from the rockets, knowing that they would be able to hurt her. She just really couldn't handle pain, it was a sensation that she hated above anything else in Creation.

Kana now felt like the tables were turned on her, the poltergeist flying through the air faster than she has ever done before, seeing fireworks explode near her as Rikako's attack had constantly missed her.

Eventually the rockets had stopped, Kana herself had stopped and turned around, looking at Rikako as she pressed the button that fired rockets out of the cylinder, though nothing was coming out of it. Rikako was obviously angered as the weapon was no longer working, all out of ammo, the self-proclaimed scientist even muttering a few swears under her breath.

Kana began to laugh at Rikako, the poltergeist seemingly sitting on the air as she pointed at the angry scientist, her hand on her stomach as she laughed. At least that wasn't a part of the pain that she hated; pain that she referred to as real pain. Rikako, angered by the ghost, threw the cylinder at Kana, the spirit noticing the oncoming invention. Kana almost prepared for the pain that she wouldn't be able to take, but the metal cylinder passed right through her, like most things in the outside world had.

Kana turned around and looked at the cylinder as it fell towards the floor, the cylinder vanishing from her sight before it could hit the metal floor, as she couldn't see that far. The young-looking ghost heard some sort of sound of rushing through the air. Kana looked behind her, seeing the same green sphere circle attack.

Kana didn't have time to react, getting hit in the cheek by one of the spinning spheres. Kana let out another unearthly roar of pain, clutching her cheek with both of her hands as she screamed from the immense pain.

Once again, the wailing was loud and almost made Rikako's ears bleed, the scientist lucky that the lenses of her glasses weren't breaking apart from Kanas screams.

All sound had ceased to some high-pitched ringing that Rikako was hearing within her head, the woman keeping her hands over her ears. It was pointless, she could still hear only the deafening ring, she couldn't hear anything related to the world around her. Rikako's eyes were closed, the scientist slowly opening her eyes, seeing that Kana was standing on the air, her hands still on her cheek, seemingly taking deep breaths, even though she didn't need to breath, as she is a poltergeist and is already dead, thus not needing the necessities required for living.

Rikako could feel her hearing slowly return, the magician-turned-scientist seeing that her main spinning orbs surrounding her, spinning around yet not firing out their danmaku. Rikako noticed her chance, she could win this battle by using Kana's weakness towards pain.

The scientist wasted no time in flying towards the poltergeist, seemingly unaware of all that was going around her. Rikako knew that, even though ghosts and other creatures of the dead can't be injured like those of the mortal realm, they can still be defeated because of their finite energy and durability of pain. And with Kana being absolutely unable to handle pain, all that Rikako has to do is hit her with full force, and the victory is in her hands.

As Rikako came near to Kana, the spinning orbs around her were suddenly struck by blue fireballs, the intentions being greatly damaged and falling to the floor as they could no longer work.

Rikako looked down as the orbs fell to the floor, eventually going too far from her to see them, though she could still hear the sound of them breaking into pieces as they made impact with the ground, the scientist cringing at the sound of metal breaking apart in an instant; of such a brilliant and useful invention being reduced to nothing in an instant.

Rikako looked up at Kana, the poltergeist seemingly having recovered from the pain. Kana was standing up on the air, the blonde ghost smiling; a smirk, she was seemingly faking her recovery. Rikako reached for the inside of her lab coat, however a cold hand grabbed hold of her wrist; Kana's hand.

"You won't be using your devices now." Kana said, the poltergeist moving her hand towards Rikako's jetpack, her spectral hand reaching into the device. The fires coming from the jetpack began to die out as Kana was messing with the insides of the device. It was then that Rikako had absolutely no way of flying, at least not without using her magic. Kana let go of Rikako, the purple-haired scientist falling towards the metal floor. Rikako was plummeting down at high speeds, her only way of stopping herself from hitting the floor face first was to use her magic. While Rikako was somewhat terrified, she knew that as a magician, even a fall from this height would only hurt a bit, not kill her like it would with a regular human. Thus, Rikako's face had slammed hard against the metal floor.

Rikako sat up after a few seconds, her nose bleeding slightly. Rikako reached into her lab coat, pulling out a handkerchief, which she used to rub the blood from her nose until it had stopped bleeding.

Kana appeared before Rikako, the poltergeist still smiling as she had her hands behind her spectral body. "So, you give up now~?" Kana asked. Rikako grimaced at the girl, once again about to reach into her coat to pull out and use a device against the poltergeist, only for both of her hands to go up into the air without her controlling them. Rikako struggled against the invisible chains around her hands, but no matter what she could do, she couldn't escape them.

"Fine then, I give." Rikako admitted, the woman slumping her head as her hands were kept up high in the air. "You win this."

"Haha, I knew it~." Kana said in a mixture of joy and pride. "It is true that the living, especially humans, cannot defeat those that have passed on to the world beyond."

Kana floated away, the poltergeist humming away to herself. Rikako grumbled angrily, the scientist hoping that Yumemi will still teach her about true science and help her show that science is truly beyond the power of magic. Rikako looked at her handkerchief as it lay on the floor, covered in dry blood. Rikako picked up her handkerchief and put it in her lab coat, the woman feeling another magical presence near her. Rikako looked up, seeing Marisa floating in front of her on top of her broomstick, the magical protégé having a rather disappointed look on her face.

"You know, you have a lot of magic." Marisa said, still floating in front of Rikako. Rikako was silent, though it would not change that Marisa was going to continue her speak. "You could have easily defeated Kana if you used your magic; she wouldn't have even stood a chance against you, even if she wasn't so weak to pain. Why didn't you use your magic?"

"Because I despise using magic, and even magic in general." Rikako answered as she stood up, not hurt by the disappointment in Marisa; she looked down at those who relied on magic for everything in their lives, she had grown so used to the criticism of the magical world that it never hurt her. "Only something of absolute danger would bring me to use my magic. That fight was far from something that would require me to use my magic, so I didn't use the unnecessary. You magic users need to know that you don't have to be lazy and use magic for everything in life."

Rikako began to walk away, Marisa glared at her from the insult, even if it seemed minor, the magician whacking the scientist on top of the head. Rikako made a small growl of annoyance, though continued to walk on; even without the stop sign that Kana hit her on the top of the head with, Rikako had been hit on the head with far harder objects, thus it didn't really mean anything to her.

" ** _The battle between Rikako and Kana has concluded! The winner of the third battle is Kana!_** " Yumemi announced, the unknown entity muttering something under their breath, though no one could understand what it was. Rikako looked at the screens, sighing as she saw only Kana's picture with the words 'WINNER!' written underneath in gold. " ** _The fourth battle will be to Mima. Mima, you wonderful and powerful ghost, pick who you will fight, in the fourth battle!_ _Reimu, Marisa, Kana, come to the centre of the battle room and wait. Mima, pick your fighter!_** "

"Hmm," Mima hummed as she floated in front of Reimu (on top of Genji, of course), Marisa and Kana. The three winners were waiting patiently, though it looked like neither Reimu or Marisa were looking forward to having fight against The Great Mima. Kana, on the other hand, looked excited to the battle. It was already clear as soon as she had shown herself that she was new to Gensokyo and knew nothing about Mima; thus she was unaware of the pure magical power and sadism that the ghost can unleash on nearly anyone in a matter of seconds. And it seemed like a bad idea to fight against some of such an infamous legacy when you cannot handle pain in any of its forms. Besides, Mima has begun to think of a little plan related to this mysterious Yumemi. A smirk grew on Mima's lips. "I'll fight against Kana. Time for a battle against a ghost that can actually match me in power, for once."

"Whaaaaaa…?" Reimu and Marisa said, somewhat surprised by Mima's answer.

"Oh my, this'll be a lot of fun~!" Kana said, still completely unaware of what Mima is capable of, the poltergeist looking excited for the inevitable battle. "I still have enough energy to fight for hours on end. I have been left dormant in that mansion for too many years, I've forgotten what my true power is like. Oooooh, I'm so excited to remember what my true power is of~!"

* * *

 **I have worries that this battle could have been a little anticlimactic. This is definitely something different from the previous chapters, as neither characters were popular ones that are usually known as the main cast. It doesn't help that, due to the lack of information regarding Rikako and Kana's capabilities and equipment, there was a lot of liberties that I could take, but not without some restraints as I'm trying to stay close to canon.**

 **It was at a certain time when writing this that I forgot about Rikako's sphere saw attack, but I was already near to the end of the battle so I just decided that those things can just appear in another chapter.**

 **There were some ideas inspired by the game, and there were some that just snuck into my head, concerning both side's attacks. It was honestly a little hard to think of what attacks they could use at times, especially Rikako, as I'm supposed to limit it to her relying on technology instead of magic, but I still have to keep a limit to the technology since Gensokyo is meant to be a (mostly) feudal country.**

 **I have no idea why I thought of Kana having a weakness to pain, to the extent that she lets out a wail upon feeling it. I guess it was just an idea that came to me because I guess living an afterlife in a world where no one can touch or hurt you would do that to someone. Then again, I did mention her not liking pain beforehand.**

 **Oh well, there should be about three or four more chapters left (excluding the chapter between this arc and the next arc, which will really be more of a breather than anything else) before this arc ends. Not like the previous arcs were super long odysseys in the first place.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are allowed and welcomed.**


	22. A Battle Transcending Life and Death

"Hmm, a battle between ghosts. That is something unexpected." Chiyuri commented. "Though I guess it makes a lot of sense in hindsight, after all Kana probably has to be the most exhausted out of all of them. And with the knowledge of Kana being so weak to pain, and with that massive explosion of danmaku that we saw her unleash upon Reimu in Maiden Place or whatever it's called, Mima knows that she'll get an easy victory against Kana."

"Yeah, seems as though I should have put some sort of limit on Mima's decisions, or just simply wait a bit before telling Mima to choose her challenger." Yumemi said as she looked at the screen, the red-haired professor seemingly somewhere else as Chiyuri looked into her eyes.

"Hey, is something on your mind?" Chiyuri asked, the student feeling somewhat worried for the other woman's dissonance with reality. Yumemi didn't respond to the blonde's question, the latter proceeding to wave her hand in front of the woman's face. It was enough to bring Yumemi back to the current reality that she and Chiyuri were in, the genius blinking as she returned.

"Oh, Chiyuri." Yumemi said. "Is... Was something off?"

"You kinda blanked out a few seconds ago." Chiyuri answered.

"Oh...! Oh that." Yumemi responded, the professor looking back at the screen. "I'm kind of worried about that Mima. After achieving some of her infamous history, I am suspicious of her. I don't want everything that we've worked hard for to just fall into disarray because of one ghost with a habit of ruining everything."

"You have technology capable of touching ghosts; capable of negating their natural abilities of passing through matter." Ruukoto said from behind Yumemi and Chiyuri in her usual monotone, the two Outside World humans turning around to see her holding the next bowl of strawberries for them to feast on as they watch the next battle. How many strawberries have they been eating today anyways? Probably an unhealthy amount, not that they cared about their health that much in the first place. "If you are suspicious that she is planning something, just play along like she has the upper hand and then trap her with that technology. You already borrowed more than enough of that ghost-touching metal during your deal with Rika, and you've already made the traps with them as a 'just in case', so you just need to play along."

Yumemi and Chiyuri both looked at the android maid in silence, blinking as they were processing what she said. "It's a good thing I made you to clean the place and calm my nerves." Yumemi responded, a cheery expression on her face. Ruukoto placed the strawberry bowl down on the counter and took the empty bowl, the green-haired android receiving a pat on the back from her creator. "Good job, Ruukoto. You deserve a reward; a promotion~!"

"I am a robot created purely to serve all your needs and desires." Ruukoto responded, the robot putting them empty bowl away and grabbing a broom, sweeping the floor. "Serving you is all I need and want."

Yumemi and Chiyuri didn't say anything else, both of the girls turning back towards the screens to watch as most as they could of the battle between spirits. A battle which had not yet started.

* * *

Reimu and Marisa had joined the other girls, knowing there was nothing else to do than to watch the battle; one which would most likely end quickly. Ellen had fallen asleep sometime since either of the two girls had last seen her, her head laying on her crossed arms, Sokrates curled up asleep next to her, also asleep. Kotohime was seemingly comforting Rikako, the scientist sitting down boredly as the red-haired princess was patting her back, though it seemed like Rikako was paying it no mind.

Marisa just decided to get off her broom and lean against the metal wall with her arms crossed behind her head, the magician putting her enchanted glasses over her eyes to watch the battle. Reimu just decided to sit down atop of Genji, the shrine maiden trainee keeping her gohei in her hand as the holy turtle she was sitting on just watched.

Back with Mima and Kana, the two dead females looked at each other, excitement for a good fight in both of their spectral eyes. "Honestly, I have been looking forward to this fight." Mima said, the ghost making her crescent sceptre materialise in her hands and the blue and purple bat-like wings that she had seemingly grow out of her back. Mima's eyes turned a golden colour, filled if intense power. "Ever since you revealed yourself, I have been interested in fighting you to a certain degree. No other ghost has managed to evade my detection, and yet you made it seem like you did it without effort. I can see now that, despite your weakness to pain, you're really a poltergeist who has been dead for a really long time, thus you have grown quite powerful as a ghost. But I won't let that stop me. Prepare yourself, British Ghost, you're going to see how powerful the strongest ghost of all time is."

"You talk way too much." Kana said, the poltergeist making a stop sign appear in her hand, the metal traffic sign being almost as big as Mima's metal wand. A ready smile went on her face. "Let's just battle. I can't wait to knock you off your pedestal, Miss I'm-The-Strongest-Ghost-of-all-Time."

Mima flew into the air, the ghost pointing her moon sceptre towards Kana. A laser beam of dim light shot out of the crescent moon on the end of the staff, the poltergeist flying out of the way before the magic attack could hit her and bring her the horrible sensation of pain once again. Reimu and Marisa both widened their eyes as they saw the beam attack, the maidens both recognising the attack as being similar to the green-haired spirit's Twilight Spark.

Marisa waved her wand near her throat quickly before talking. "HEY, MIMA!" Marisa yelled, her voice deafeningly loud from the spell she casted on herself. Ellen was woken up abruptly as Sokrates hissed from the sudden, loud sound, the cat scratching his master as he was blinded by fear caused from the booming voice. Reimu, Genji, Kotohime and Rikako both felt like they just lost a bit of their hearing because of the reckless magic user. "YOU'RE NOT USIN' THE TWILIGHT SPARK ATTACK, ARE YA?! THAT'LL BLAST US ALL TO THE AFTERLIFE!"

Mima looked at Marisa, the waving her finger in front of her throat like Marisa used her wand for hers. "NO, THIS ISN'T TWILIGHT SPARK!" Mima yelled back. "IT'S A WEAKER VERSION! I CALL IT DIM SPARK!"

"OH! OKAY!" Marisa yelled.

"Turn down the volume before I become a deaf shrine maiden trainee!" Reimu yelled, the shrine maiden trainee covering her ears, as was everyone else.

"WHAT?!" Marisa asked, the protégé having not undone her voice augmentation spell.

"I SAID TURN DOWN THE VOLUME OF YOUR VOICE OR I'LL FANTASY SEAL YOU INTO THE NEXT WORLD!" Reimu yelled even louder than before, the maiden having lost her temper. Reimu suddenly lurched until her knees were bent, her hand on her chest as she made hoarse, deep breaths.

"JEEZ, YA COULDA JUST SAID SO, EGGPLANT!" Marisa said casually with her ear-splitting voice. Marisa then waved her wand in front of her throat again, undoing the spell.

"Thank you!" Ellen, Kotohime, Rikako and Genji yelled at the blonde.

Back with Mima, who had undone her own tone enhancement spell, the magician ghost was trying to hit Kana as she summoned wave after wave of star-shaped danmaku to hit the poltergeist, the aforementioned spirit dodging the danmaku by the skin of her teeth, not wanting to feel the torment of pain. Kana summoned her little, formless phantoms, the blonde ghost sending the phantoms towards Mima. The phantoms hit Mima, though it seemed like they did little damage towards her, the sorceress ghost continuing to send her waves of magic stars towards the poltergeist, but to no avail.

Kana then outstretched her arm towards Mima, though more accurately it was towards the sceptre she held in her hands. Kana suddenly flung her arm up into the air, the poltergeist's telekinesis sending the staff flying up and out of Mima's hands, stopping the star pattern spell that she was using, as the sceptre was what she was using for the spell.

"Ha, now your precious little wand is out of your hands~." Kana said, the ghost smiling towards Mima like the latter was a foolish, little child that got caught in her trap. "Looks like you won't be casting any spells anytime soon~."

Mima suddenly burst out in laughter, the magician ghost pointing at the understandably confused Kana as she laughed.

"I don't get it." Kana said as Mima continued to laugh. "Is there some sort of inside joke that I missed? What's so funny?"

"Oh... Oh it's nothing." Mima breathed as she stopped laughing, the ghost wiping away a spectral tear that appeared on her eye before she gave Kana a dark smile. "It's just hilarious that you believe that Mima the Magnificent relies on her wand to use spells."

Mima outstretched a hand towards Kana, a magic circle of a green colour appearing in front of the ghost of hair the same colour. Vast streams of green danmaku, spherical and ranging from small and fast to big and slow, all heading towards Kana. The pain-sensitive ghost almost panicked at the danmaku of tremendous power coming towards her, creating multiple gigantic phantoms, which she sent towards the danmaku to take the hit for her. The phantoms were annihilated by the danmaku, though they still managed to destroy the magic bullets with them. This, however, was meaningless there was far more danmaku, the green bullets being created at a much faster rate than the phantoms.

Kana deduced that her phantoms were a mere waste of time and energy, the poltergeist deciding to just run away from the spell.

However, as Kana looked around to find a good spot to fly towards, she saw that there was nowhere to go to as the danmaku took up the entire space around her. Kana gulped, the poltergeist knowing that she had no other choice then to just dodge the dense danmaku.

Kana had grazed most of the danmaku that she dodged, mostly a result of how dense the bullets were than personal choice. At least grazing the danmaku didn't hurt her; in fact, it even felt like it was giving her a bit of energy. But as Kana kept her eyes glued on Mima and the endless torrent of green danmaku, she began to notice something moving in the top of her peripheral vision. The poltergeist looked up, seeing that Mima's spectre was now pointing towards her, a dim light building up within the crescent.

Kana looked back at Mima, her ethereal heart racing as she saw a large sphere of green danmaku right in front of her face, the blonde ghost just barely dodging the attack. What Kana didn't dodge, however, was the beam of dim light that shot her as she ducked; The 'Dim Spark'.

Kana let out a blood-curdling scream as the laser pierced through her being. Even though she is already dead and has passed her entire spiritual being through countless objects, the feeling of a powerful beam shooting through her ghostly stomach, actually feeling the sensation, was a blinding pain. It made Kana wish that she died once again so she could go onto another realm, where not even magic could hurt her.

Kana's body seemingly disappeared, though her wailing could still be heard. Mima ceased her spell and used her magic to bring her metal wand back towards her hands, the ghost grabbing hold of it and looking out for where the poltergeist might appear.

Mima suddenly felt a blunt object hit her in the side of the face with tremendous force; if she were still a living magician, the impact would have probably left a mark that would be throbbing in pain for a few hours before leaving.

Mima was sent rolling along the air, the ghost managing to stop herself, planting a soft hand on the area where she was hit as the pain quickly went away; it may have been strong pain, but it would have to be far stronger than that to put her out of commission.

Mima looked towards where she once was, seeing Kana, the maiden-like poltergeist holding her regular stop sign. Kana conjured up formless phantoms into existence, the fake ghosts forming together to form two more Kanas, most likely for the sake of trying to confused Mima.

The ghost sorceress just smirked, raising her sceptre into the air. "Stardust Reverie!" Mima announced as she swung her sceptre down, casting the powerful spell. The ceiling was seemingly replaced by outer space, vast amounts of star-shaped danmaku shooting down towards the floor from the seeming rip in space. Granted, there were less stars than when Mima used the spell in Reimaden, but there was still an immense number of danmaku.

The Kanas seemed to be better at dodging the Stardust Reverie than the green sphere spell that Mima had unleashed earlier, though that may be because of how much Mima was holding back in the casting of her Reverie spell; purely to not destroy the ruins and Marisa. Some of the Kanas even used their stop signs to whack the star-shaped danmaku back towards Mima, the ghost dodging easily. Keeping her Reverie spell active, Mima pointed a finger towards one of the Kanas, shooting out a bolt of green lightning that destroyed the fake poltergeist as it burst into phantoms that soon vanished into nothing.

Mima didn't care much that it was a fake Kana, it just means she has a luckier shot at hitting the real one.

The two remaining poltergeists, both the real one and her fake clone, quickly caught on to what Mima was thinking, creating more phantoms that formed together into fake Kanas. Mima smirked at the sight, the ghost knowing that such an effort must be draining for Kana's energy. It wasn't like most of the other Kanas would last as there was simply too many of them to dodge the Stardust Reverie, only having a few seconds of existence before being hit and dissipating.

"Honestly, did you think that was a good idea~?" Mima asked to the real Kana, which ever one she was, her smug expression only coming close to wavering because she was on the verge of laughing. "All you're doing is wasting your power to create clones that will be absolutely no help to you. You may be powerful, but you're not that bright. I can say with certainty that you have two weaknesses: pain and your stupidity."

"Hey!" One of the Kanas yelled angrily, the blonde poltergeist causing all the others to look at her with mixed expressions of shock and anger that she had revealed her identity as the real Kana. The Kana that yelled had widened her eyes and covered her mouth, realising what she just done.

"Thank you for making my goal easier." Mima said simply, her Stardust Reverie spell ending. Mima held her sceptre up high, throwing it towards Kana. The poltergeist dodged the crescent wand rather easily, though she knew that it would come back towards her. Kana looked back, seeing that the crescent sceptre was spinning towards her at high speeds. Kana flew away from the spinning item, the item following after her at high speeds, almost catching up to her as it followed her. Kana screamed in terror of the thing flying after her, the fake copies of her that she created were about to help her, but Mima had already predicted that they would do that. "Oh no you don't."

The other Kanas were suddenly struck by green lightning that Mima shot from both of her hands, the fake poltergeists screaming in pain before turning back into dispersing phantoms that became nothing.

Kana looked back at the spinning sceptre, the poltergeist trying to use her telekinesis to stop it, though it became clear that Mima's telekinesis was stronger. Or maybe it was hard to fight against someone else's telekinesis when you're trying to fly away from an attack.

Mima was aware that Kana wasn't looking where she was going, the magician ghost opening one of her hands, making small spheres of blue, red, yellow, green and purple respectively appear above the pads of her fingers and thumb, the spheres flying off and towards Kana. Or more accurately, in front of the poltergeist.

The spinning sceptre began to slow down mysteriously, allowing Kana to look about in front of her. The ghost skidded to a stop as she saw the odd and sudden orbs glowing in front of her, the poltergeist having a short moment of relief before she was suddenly hit in the back of the head by the crescent moon on the end of the sceptre.

Kana began to scream upon feeling the pain, her aversion towards feeling pain reaching its highest point as she felt more pain then ever before. Mima made the crescent sceptre return to her as she made the lights disappear, having no other purpose than just to distract Kana. They honestly took up so little magic power that their brightness was the only thing that made Mima certain that they were real.

"Oh quit whining, everyone feels a bit of pain from time to time." Mima said as Kana continued to scream from the pain that felt like it was quaking around her being. Mima huffed in annoyance, getting greatly miffed that the maiden's ghost couldn't handle pain, as well as that she just wouldn't listen to the green-haired ghost. Mima let out a loud sigh of annoyance, massaging one of her temples as she closed her eyes. "Why do I even bother talking to this idiot?"

Mima opened her eyes, suddenly hit in the face by a stop sign. The stop sign remained attached to Mima's face, either because the force that it hit her with was that powerful, or because it was being stuck there by the power of telekinesis. Mima grabbed the... 'handle' of the stop sign, pulling the flat thing off her face. Mima's face had gained a minor red hue, but that seemed to be the worst of her damages. Mima looked boredly in front of herself, seeing Kana looking at her angrily, the poltergeist keeping her hand facing towards the magician ghost.

"I'll make you pay for that." Kana said, tears of anger clinging to her eyes.

Mima smirked at Kana, the ghost keeping the stop sign levitated above her hand before it suddenly burst into flames, burning until all that was left was nothing but ash. "I now understand you, Kana." Mima said, the ghost seemingly sitting on her spectral tail, placing herself above her crescent staff as it floated on its side. "You do possess a lot of power, and that could amount to you possessing a lot of strength. However, you don't really seem to know anything about fighting, or at least proper fighting. I guess you had no real time to learn about the art when you were haunting a boring mansion. And you of course cannot handle pain. It appears that regardless of your power, you're not really that strong."

"H-HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME!" Kana yelled.

"If I'm insulting you by being honest, then you should have stayed back at the mansion." Mima responded, the ghost getting out of her 'sitting' position, making the sceptre float back up to its upward position, grabbing hold of it and pointing it towards Kana. "It's time to end this."

A green sphere appeared in front of the crescent moon of Mima's staff, multiple green snakes shooting out of the sphere and flying towards Kana at incredibly fast speeds.

Kana whacked away some of the serpents, the magically created beings breaking into countless tiny pieces upon a single hit, though many more were appearing in comparison to the ones being destroyed, appearing around and behind Kana. Kana noticed the increasing number of green snakes, the blonde poltergeist seemingly disappearing.

The serpents looked around, confusion on their reptilian faces as they tried to find the vanishing ghost. Mima narrowed her eyes, knowing that Kana had done the same invisibility and evasion trick that she did at the shrine earlier that morning. Knowing that she cannot detect the other ghost while she is using that trick (gods, how it hurt her to even mentally admit that), Mima surrounded herself with a green sphere shield, the magician ghost summoning up more of her emerald snakes, mentally messaging them to just search around and see if they could find Kana.

Mima kept her eyes peeled as she looked around, trying to see if she could stop Kana. After a few seconds of hopeless silence, Mima suddenly heard a cracking sound behind her, the green-haired ghost turning around to see one of her snakes breaking into pieces. The other snakes quickly flew towards where their comrade had broken apart, certain that Kana was there. Some of the advancing snakes were hit by an invisible force, breaking apart instantly.

Mima smirked at the sight, pointing her wand towards where the snakes were breaking apart, even though she was still on the other side of the shield. A blast of red magic shot out of the sceptre, passing through the shield and towards the snakes. Some of the snakes were obviously destroyed, though Mima didn't care much as they were simple magically created beings.

Mima expected to hear some sort of scream, or some other sign that she had hit Kana, but there was nothing. Mima was about to create more snakes, before hearing a sound behind her, turning around to see nothing. Mima caught on to who was behind her. Mima conjured a bag of flour outside her shield, the bag floating in the air before suddenly doing a one-eighty vertical spin, the contents of the bag falling down.

The flour from the bag covered Kana, the poltergeist's invisible body being visible as the flour covered her body. Mima smirked as Kana tried to get the flour off of her, though it was too late as the green-haired ghost suddenly snapped her spectral fingers.

Multiple spheres of different colours suddenly floated around Mima and Kana, the spheres flying towards the pain-sensitive spirit as she tried to fly away from them, shooting blue fireballs towards the green snakes as they went flying towards her.

* * *

Kana blinked as she looked at the illusion surrounding her and Mima, showing both her and the other ghost fighting against each other. She was still covered in flour, but Mima's snakes had vanished, the sorceress having seemingly dispelled her magical creations. Kana was completely confused at what happened; she and Mima were definitely fighting against each other, and the ghost gave her real pain (which she hated completely), but now they were within an illusion of them fighting, with everyone seemingly deceived about the illusion except for the two people in the illusion.

"You must be confused, aren't you?" Mima said, the ghost turning her eyes back to their regular green colour and making her wings disappear. Kana looked at the other ghost, surprised to see that she had changed her spectral tail into regular legs, crossing one over the other as she sat on the air. "It's simple, really. I am showing an illusion of the rest of our battle."

Kana raised an eyebrow. "Why are you doing this?" The poltergeist asked, rubbing the flour off of her.

"I have no interest in this." Mima explained simply. "I have already fought with Reimu in the past and, even though I used my full power, I lost. And Marisa is taught everything by me, she is not yet ready. As for you and the others... I simply don't care about any of you."

"Wah… Why you...!" Kana growled, making another stop sign appear in her hands and tried to whack Mima on the head, though the other ghost had grabbed hold of the iron pole before the rest of it could hit her on the head.

"Enough of this." Mima said in a calm voice that had hidden annoyance in it, giving Kana a glare. Kana was intimidated by the ghost's glare, letting go of the stop sign and letting it turn back into nothing. Mima waved her hand downwards slowly, gesturing Kana to sit. Kana 'sat' on the empty air, though she was just flying in a sitting position. "I have deduced that Yumemi has nothing to interest me, and I have deduced that once someone has won the final battle, they may let us go onto the next room for our 'gifts'. I think we should just end this in a draw, let everything end quicker."

The illusion of Mima and Kana fighting was still going on, Mima was shooting star-shaped danmaku towards Kana as the poltergeist made a stop sign spin around so quickly that it looked like a disk, batting the danmaku away. At least that was the illusion.

"Why would I end this fight and let it be a draw?!" Kana yelled angrily, standing up in the air with her hands in fists, glaring at the other ghost.

"For one, I could just defeat you right now." Mima answered simply, the ghost no longer sitting on her tail. "And for second, whatever you wish is something that I myself can grant. What is it that you wish?"

Kana was silent, almost nervous about admitting what her greatest desire was before finally admitting it. "A good house to haunt." The blonde poltergeist answered. "I want to haunt a good house, one that isn't boring with boring residents who do boring things and have boring friends and everything that happens in just boring."

"Oh..." Mima said. "Well you could just haunt the shrine. That's what I have been doing, though the trainee and turtle haven't realised it yet. It has already shown a lot of entertaining things, from even the short time that I have been haunting. And I have known that for thousands of years, even in an odd little dimension like Gensokyo, the Hakurei shrine is a focal point for weird and exciting oddities."

"Oooooh, really~?" Kana asked, inquisitive of the information, her yellow eyes sparking with interest.

"Yes, yes indeed." Mima answered, the magician ghost keeping her illusion active as she spoke with the other dead maiden. "You can haunt that shrine with me, it is very fun with the wacky humans and wackier youkai that keep on visiting. That Reimu Hakurei is also very fun to mess with, she's kind of charismatic... in her own special way."

"Ok, ok, I'll draw." Kana said, agreeing to Mima's plan.

"Good, good." Mima responded, looking pleased, still controlling the illusion that surrounded her and Kana. "Now then, we should end this battle and make it look like a draw."

* * *

Everyone (with the exception of Ellen and Rikako, who were sleeping and repairing their jetpack respectively) watched as the two ghosts flew through the air, firing danmaku towards each other at high speeds, bullets if various colours flying through the air, missing their intended targets as they moved out of the way in speeds faster than the magical attacks. Kana and Mima both suddenly stopped, both of them were seemingly charging up some sort of supernatural energy.

Green lightning crackled around Mima and surrounded her spectral form like an odd armour, meanwhile Kana had surrounded herself with an aura of blue fire. The magician ghost and poltergeist flew towards each other head first at high speeds.

There was a massive explosion of supernatural power as the two ghosts collided, one which manifested itself as a giant glow of light; a light so bright that everyone looking had to cover their eyes.

As everyone was looking away from the blinding light of supernatural power, a sound of two things hitting the metal floor could be heard. Everyone opened their eyes (having to blink away a few circles that were remaining in their eyesight), seeing both Mima and Kana laying on the ground, defeated. Everyone was surprised as both of the ghosts were seemingly unconscious on the floor, both looking beat up from the collision attack that they performed.

It was unbeknownst to everyone in the room that Mima and Kana simply used their ghost powers to change their appearances to suit that look.

" _ **The battle between Mima and Kana has concluded!**_ " Yumemi announced, seemingly unaffected by the surprise that has overcame everyone else. " ** _It is a draw; the winner of the fourth battle is no one!_** "

"Oh, how could this be? I, the Great and Powerful Mima, the strongest ghost in existence, lose to another ghost." Mima said, inwardly smirking as she noticed that even Marisa and Genji were being fooled by her acting, feeling pride in the power of her lies; next to her magic, Mima's ability to lie and conceal the truth was her greatest asset.

"Yeah, can't believe that I lost." Kana said in a very monotone and unconvincing voice, the poltergeist obviously having no talent in acting whatsoever. Mima had mentally grimaced at the blonde, though it appeared as though luck was taking her side as the power of her lie still held itself over most of the others. And even though Mima had a feeling that Genji and Marisa were starting to see through the hole that Kana accidently put in her lie, they would either not care or dare to bring the possible truth to the others.

"Ha, serves you both right~!" Rikako said like a little child, pointing at Mima and Kana. "You two were both so rude and you brought each other out, that is the power of karmic justice~!"

Kana whacked Rikako on the head with enough strength and power to knock the magician-turned-scientist out cold, a large lump growing on her head with her eyes in spirals and a bit of her tongue sticking out. Mima snickered at the sight, feeling that Rikako deserved it for wasting her magic, as well as for insulting the spirit by calling her 'defeat' karmic justice.

"Oh, so what happens next?" Ellen asked, suddenly awake with Sokrates still curled up asleep on top of her head. "Do we now play the ancient ritual of Rock-Paper-Scissors of Super Oblivion?"

"That sounds both stupid and cool." Marisa commented, Kotohime by her side and nodding her head in agreement.

"I believe it isn't something ridiculous like that." Genji said. "Obviously we would either move on to our 'gifts', or..."

* * *

Yumemi moved her lips away from the mike and took her finger off the button, looking at the screen as Rikako suddenly pointed at Mima and Kana. Yumemi didn't care about what was going on between the magical maidens she has in her Probability Space Hypervessel, the red-haired scientist looking back at Chiyuri. "Do you believe that she may be conspiring against us?" Yumemi asked, having seen past the illusion that Mima had cast, the illusion not being able to work through the power of her camera. Maybe Rikako is right that science is a power that transcends magic, though that didn't matter for now. "She did stop the battle and talk to Kana under the belief that we weren't aware of her conversation. It feels suspicious, especially when it was done by someone who is notorious for her scheming and back-stabbing."

"Don't worry, if she truly believed that we were deceived by her illusion, then she would state her distrust within us to Kana." Chiyuri said. "As far as the ghost is sure, we don't know anything."

"You do bring up a good point, Chiyuri." Yumemi said, turning back towards the screen, showing all of the soon-to-be live proof of her theory of magical existence merely talking with each other as they no doubt awaited for her next command. "Still though, we should play along to the deception. It shouldn't last long, soon they will be trapped."

"Ah yes, and then we can return home~." Chiyuri responded with great cheerfulness. "I'm sorry, I enjoy it here a lot but I really miss everything back home."

"Well just remain patient for a few more seconds and don't muck up and you can enjoy as much of the Outside World as you want...!" Yumemi said in a sharp and angry manner towards her student, giving her a slight glare. Yumemi cleared her throat and calmed herself down, pressing down on the button as she spoke into the microphone. "The fifth and final battle shall commence; Reimu Hakurei, Marisa Kirisame, battle and show the world which one of you is the champion of the Probability Space Hypervessel~!"

* * *

 **Looks like the final battle among the maidens is on the way with the next chapter, 'cause after that the story will be progressing with the battle against Chiyuri and then Yumemi. And yes, it is another battle against Reimu and Marisa, though hopefully it will be different from the one in the last arc. Lord knows that when I do the adaption for Imperishable Night I will have to write another Reimu versus Marisa battle, though they will technically be stronger with new techniques that they most likely have perfected (like the Master Spark for Marisa), as well as Alice and Yukari will be included, in some way or form.**

 **So, if I must be honest, I originally planned there to be second rounds, with different fights between different characters, but I ended up dismissing that idea. So I decided to end it with a classic Reimu versus Marisa battle (for some reason), so that is the last thing before the battle against the two intruders from the Outside World.**

 **I feel like I got rather lazy with my writing some time along writing this, thus I came up with the idea of Mima using her magic to create an illusion and for her and Kana to secretly end it on a tie, with everyone believing them to have defeated each other. I doubt that Yumemi would just let Mima decide to not fight anymore, especially after fighting someone who had another battle just seconds ago, so I ended up with this.**

 **Hopefully the battle was at least interesting to read; a giant percentage of this entire fanfic is literally dedicated to fight scenes, so I kind of have to be good at writing fight scenes, if not outright a master or so to keep people interested, especially since a lot of the fanfic will just be what has already been made, just rewritten. The least that I could do is improve on my skills in writing fight scenes, especially if people give me advice.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and welcomed.**


	23. Decisive Magic Battle!

"The Space Probability Hyper-what?" Marisa asked Yumemi, the magician confused by the random and oddly-named thing that the disembodied voice mentioned.

" _ **The Probability Space Hypervessel!**_ " Yumemi yelled angrily, the bodiless voice then seemingly clearing its throat, before speaking more calmly. " ** _Sorry, I have had many people in that past get it wrong and it really got on my nerves and... it just kind of stuck with me. The Probability Space Hypervessel is the very area that you are inside; my magnum opus. As Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame are the only two maidens that have remained undefeated, they shall be the last to fight. After the champion of the Probability Space Hypervessel has proven herself, all of you shall be able to enjoy the gifts that I have for you. Though, the champion will get a broader choice than the rest._** "

"Huh, cool." Marisa responded, the protégé holding her broomstick over her shoulder, the blonde proceeding to smirk at Reimu. "Well, Eggplant, looks like it's time for a rematch. Don't think I'll go easy on ya this time; you're definitely going to lose to me and realise that I'm stronger than you."

"I don't care about having to fight you to prove that I'm stronger than you, because I already know that I'm stronger than you." Reimu said in a seemingly innocent, if not condescending, tone of voice. "And I have already beaten you before when you gave it your all a few weeks... or months ago. I forgot how time had passed. Heeheehee~."

Marisa's face began to scrunch as she looked at Reimu angrily, holding her hand out in a fist so tight it was almost going to turn as white as a sheet. "You are so not going to be gettin' any mercy from you when we fight this time." Marisa growled, the magician tossing her broom into the air, the otherwise normal object suddenly stopping in the air and floating down until it was behind the magician controlling it, the aforementioned maiden sitting atop of it, the blonde proceeding to point at the shrine maiden trainee. "I'm not kiddin', Eggplant. I'll show ya just how powerful I really am."

"Heeheehee, we'll see about that~." Reimu said, walking on top of Genji.

"Lady Hakurei, do not be overconfident." Genji said as he flew upwards into the air, being needed for his trainee's battle against the sorceress protégé. "You may have defeated her in the past, and you may be stronger than that time, but she too has grown in strength since you last fought. And don't forget, even a weakling can beat the strong if they become too sure of themselves."

"Oh, sorry, Gramps, I forgot." Reimu apologised, feeling embarrassed for herself, giving the ancient turtle being a bow. Reimu then looked at Marisa, her purple eyes filled with serious determination, pointing her gohei towards the other maiden. "If you won't hold back against me, then I won't hold back against you. If you think that I end up going too hard against you, remember that you started this."

"Ha, I won't need to regret anythin' I've said." Marisa responded confidently. "I now got more magic spells learned and perfected than an entire magic guild. I'll dodge and blast ya to-."

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu said, summoning her multicoloured spheres of mass power and destruction. The spheres flew towards Marisa at high speeds, the protégé reacting quickly and pouring her magic power into her broomstick, flying away from the attack as it was homing in on her. The Fantasy Seal was beginning to catch up on Marisa, the blonde magician knowing that she just has to escape it for a few more seconds before the spheres blow up.

"Flashing Comet!" Marisa said, her voice having a slightly deep echo to it as she chanted the spell. Marisa's entire body and broom were covered by a blue colour, her increasing tenfold and beyond, the blue aura surrounding her becoming bigger and bigger as she escaped from the Fantasy Seal. The short spell's time limit was reached, the multicoloured spheres blowing up while Marisa was far away from it. The blue comet that Marisa turned into speeding around the battle room, soon turning towards Reimu. Genji flew himself and Reimu out of the way of Marisa as she aimed herself at them. Even though it shown that Marisa had trouble, the speeding comet of a magician turned around and aimed herself at Reimu and Genji again, the holy duo dodging her attack as Reimu tried to hit her with danmaku and ofuda until Marisa's Flashing Comet spell had timed out. Marisa smirked at Reimu as she finally stopped. "Like I said, I'll dodge whatever you shoot towards me, and then I'll blast ya back."

"That sounds disproportionate." Reimu said, the girl making a black-white yin-yang appear in her hand. "And you can't dodge forever, Marisa."

"And I can say the same thing 'bout you, Reiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimuuuuuuuuuuu~!" Marisa said in a squealy voice, feeling schadenfreude as she saw Reimu's face cringe in annoyance.

"You are going to pay for that!" Reimu yelled angrily at Marisa, the shrine maiden trainee throwing the yin-yang towards the magician, exploding into many more black and white yin-yang. Marisa flew away from the constant yin-yang projectiles, pointing her wand at Reimu. Marisa fired a blue beam of magic power towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee putting her hand on one of the Yin-Yang Orb duplicates, quickly summoning Gyoku, who protected the holy duo by summoning one of his barriers before vanishing back into the orb.

"Ah, so you're little friend can stop one laser." Marisa said, waving around her wand like the conductor of an orchestra for the insane. Blue magic circles appeared around Marisa, charging up magical energy of the same colour. It didn't take an expert of magic to know what spell was going to come. "Lets see how that one little barrier can protect from all sides. Omnidirectional Concerto~!"

The holy duo began to notice that the blue magic circles the mage was summoning were appearing around them at all sides, facing towards them as they charged with their summoners magic power. There was no way to escape, every possible exit was blocked by the same magic circles; left, right, up, down... There was nowhere to go.

"Genji, what do we do?!" Reimu yelled frantically at the magic turtle she was riding, finding no way out of this trap Marisa has put them in.

"Withstand it." Genji said, bracing himself for the unavoidable laser attacks.

All of the blue magic circles fired at once, all chances of escape becoming less than the infinitesimal number they already were. Reimu and Genji were both hit by all of the lasers without any protection, having nothing to do but remain conscious after the attack, that is if they wish to win this battle. The magic circles dimmed out of existence as the spell was completed, leaving only a cloud of smoke in the centre of where they once were.

"If I know the author of this story, he's going to write something like 'Reimu shot a yin-yang out of the smoke cloud', or somethin' like that. Well that ain't going to happen, I'm going to win this battle. Time for an encore~!" Marisa said, waving her wand around again, bringing the magic circles back into existence, charging up with magical energy once again as they would repeat their process. "Omnidirectional Concerto!"

The magic circles fired their blue lasers of powerful offensive power once again, hitting the same area before the dust cloud could disperse, creating an even bigger dust cloud as a result. Even though she gave her presumable foe even less time to escape or safeguard herself, Marisa wasn't certain to relent just yet.

"Omnidirectional Concerto." Marisa announced once again, her voice having slightly more power than the previous times as she put in a little more energy into the spell. The magic circles once again had life sparked back into them, this time before they could even fade out of existence. The blue energy that was charging within them was in the form of a sphere in their centre, blue lightning crackling from the spheres and passing onto the seals surrounding them, bouncing off from sphere to sphere and circle to circle from the close space they were to each other. Marisa pointed her wand to the dissipating smoke cloud in a swinging motion, the omnidirectional lasers all firing at once. Marisa was taking deep breaths and even sweating a little as the magic circles faded out of existence for the last time, drained slightly from all the magic power she was using up in rapid time. "There, that outta be enough. Don't think I need to cast another Omnidirectional Concerto, don't wanna accidently kill Eggplant, 'specially now that we're friends."

"Yeah, that and you're wastin' your magic power firing at nothing." Reimu said from behind Marisa.

Marisa turned around, seeing Reimu and Genji floating behind her, both damaged, though definitely not the extent that Marisa was hoping; they were still conscious, for one. "How'd did that happen?" Marisa asked, incredulous of the sight before her. "How'd you two get behind me? How did the both of you remain conscious after that."

"It's a simple matter, really." Genji answered calmly, his wounds healing and almost disappearing, though Reimu's damage didn't heal, as she is still a human with human level regeneration. "Your first Omnidirectional Concerto had hit us, and it did a lot of damage. But, in the faint moment that you were talking before casting the spell once again, I flew myself and Reimu out of the way before you casted it those two times, luckily escaping before you could notice us."

Marisa was silent and kept her incredulous expression before calming down quickly. "Well now, it would be a boring and anticlimactic end to this tournament of awesome battles if I won in only a few attacks." The mage remarked, a smile on her face; being almost smug in nature. Marisa then aimed a big grin towards the duo as she held out her magic wand. "'kay now, let's make this battle so awesome that no one will remember those battles that happened in this Hyperspace Probability Vessel or whatever it's called. You 'n me, Reimu... and that old turtle. Lets go~! Orreries System!"

Marisa became surrounded by four spheres of green, red, blue and purple respectively, spinning around the blonde mage. Marisa crossed her legs as she sat on the flying broomstick, pointing her wand at the duo that she was facing, the Orreries floating around her beginning to spin around so quickly that they looked like a large circle that just surrounded her, firing out bright, star-shaped danmaku.

"I've already found a way around that spell in the past, I can do it again." Reimu said as she began to fire danmaku and ofuda at Marisa, the magician flying out of the way of the attacks as her Orreries continued to fly around her, firing their rapid danmaku with no problems, even with their summoner's rapid movement. "It doesn't matter how far you fly away, I will still hit you."

"I'll see 'bout that. Flashing Comet." Marisa said, surrounding her entire body with the same blue glow from before as she suddenly charged towards the holy duo at speeds that were faster than most humans could react to, the Orreries System following after Marisa, keeping up with her speeds, still spinning around and firing away star-shaped danmaku, making it harder for Reimu and Genji to dodge Marisa's latest attack.

"She's definitely not letting this be an easy battle." Genji commented as the star-shaped danmaku grazed him and Reimu.

"Well, if it was easy, then I guess it wouldn't even be a battle." Reimu commented in response.

Marisa's Flashing Comet spell had eventually stopped, though the Orreries System spell was still staying active; it wasn't any question, the only way to stop the spell is to destroy the Orreries themselves. "Let's see you attack after this." Marisa said with excitement in her voice, waving her wand around once again. "Thunderous Arsenal~!"

Marisa summoned multiple swords made of thunder, the swords floating in the air and pointing towards Reimu and Genji. With a simple swing of Marisa's wand, the swords made of thunder shot towards the holy duo with speeds like that of lightning. Reimu summoned another barrier to protect herself and Genji, the barrier succeeding in its purpose before disappearing. Reimu fired multiple danmaku at Marisa in rapid succession, the magical maiden managing to withstand the holy danmaku, though her body was beginning to become covered in bruises and her clothes were beginning to get tears.

"Stardust Reverie!" Marisa yelled, summoning a rift to what looks like outer space, shooting giant star-shaped danmaku down and towards the duo. Reimu and Genji were able to mostly dodge the Stardust Reverie, the shrine maiden trainee shooting danmaku at Marisa. As it seemed like Reimu and Genji were doing fine against Marisa, they were suddenly hit by one of the falling stars, being sent towards the floor at high speeds from the mere force of the star-shaped danmaku alone.

Reimu and Genji were falling down towards the floor at high speeds, though luckily the holy entity still had his shrine maiden trainee on top of him, needing only to stop himself. Genji managed to slow his plummet and bring it to an abrupt stop. Reimu felt dazed and light-headed from the suddenly stop in movement, feeling like her brain had just be tossed around in her skull.

"Uggghhhh…!" Reimu groaned as she held onto the temple of her head, feeling dizzy with her eyes in the form of spirals. "Oh no, did Ellen cast that spell again? The spell that leaves us stunned or whatever. It feels like it."

"Lady Reimu, please gain your composure back." Genji said, worrying about his trainee's current state. The old turtle looked towards Marisa, even though she was so much of a distance away that it was a little hard to see her, he knew she was going to cast a powerful, offensive spell. "Marisa's going to cast another spell, even if I can dodge it, you're still not in a good state to hang on while I dodge. And don't forget that only you can fight against Marisa, I possess little to no fighting abilities of my own, I can't fight against Marisa without your help."

A tiny star-shaped danmaku hit Reimu square in the forehead, the impact of the attack being enough for Reimu to regain lucidity. "Huh, what?" Reimu responded, looking around frantically as her memories were recollecting. "What again happened? Wasn't there an evil oni trying to open a portal to Jigoku?"

"You already defeated Konngara." Genji said to Reimu. "Right now we are fighting Marisa. It's not the Mima incident."

"Oh... Oh yeah." Reimu said, looking at Marisa as the magician was smirking at her. Marisa began to wave her wand around once again, moving around like a mad conductor once again. Reimu gritted her teeth, not wanting to go through another Omnidirectional Concerto from Marisa. Multiple star-shaped danmaku of various colours suddenly appeared around Marisa, the magician pointing her wand at the duo, the danmaku heading towards them at high speeds.

Genji shot through the air with Reimu on top of him, the maiden firing danmaku and ofuda towards the protégé, the projectiles hitting her. "Cage of the Event Horizon!" Marisa announced with her powerful voice, multicoloured magic circles appearing from her and flying around her and Reimu, star-shaped danmaku coming from the magic circles as they continued to fly through the air. "This is a special spell that traps the intended target. You should feel honoured, Eggplant."

"My name is not Eggplant! It's Reimu! Rei-mu. Get it right already!" Reimu yelled angrily, not noticing that the magic circles were starting to focus more on flying around her and Genji, literally forming a cage made out of star-shaped danmaku. Reimu looked for a way out of the cage, seeing that any possible space was far too small for her and Genji to escape through, even if they tried to slip through the small spaces on their own. Their literal only hope was spontaneously gaining the power to shrink themselves down to the size of a fly and grow back to their regular size in seconds. "Are you serious, how are we supposed to escape this."

"It's simple, idiot. You don't." Marisa responded, pointing at the cage she made out of danmaku. "Just sit back and let the stars hit you~."

The multicoloured star-shaped danmaku began to fly towards Reimu and Genji, the chances of escaping being an absolute zero. Or at least that is the way in Marisa's eyes.

"Hey, Mema." Ellen said, the witch having woken up from her latest nap and watching the battle on the screen.

"It's Mima. She should be sure to remember that name, when those words are put together in that order, each of them individually gain some incredible power." Mima corrected, the ghost not feeling up to electrocuting Ellen, or burning her into ash, or simply blasting her with an immensely powerful bomb spell, like she would usually do if someone were to insult her with such a disgusting mispronunciation of her name. "You may proceed with your question, Eternally Retarded One."

"Is there a way to get out of that spell?" Ellen asked, having never seen that spell before. She thinks, at least; when her memory is constantly in fragments and she can forget and remember anything in an instant, it is hard to know what has been seen before or not. Even then, she usually keeps her spells on a small scale, despite all the power and skill she possesses... does she?

"Yes, there is indeed a way out of that spell." Mima said as the danmaku closed in on the holy duo, coming closer and closer with the chances of escaping probably dropping into the negative numbers. At least in their cases.

"Lies! Complete lies!" Rikako yelled, pointing at Mima with a glare on her face, the action easily gaining the ghost woman's attention. "Even though I now despise magic, I still remember everything I learnt back in the days when I thought that magic was blessed thing everyone else believes. And a thing I remember clearly is that all spells of danmaku must be escapable. If it has no way of being dodged and is completely unfair, then it violates the Law of Danmaku Magic and is thus considered void."

"Actually, it is escapable. Just not for those two." Mima responded nonchalantly as she looked at the magician-turned-scientist, a smirk appearing on her face. "If you can teleport, that spell is easily escapable."

Marisa made the star-shaped danmaku home in on the duo in their centre at top speeds, as far as Marisa was concerned, they were definitely hit by that attack, a large grin plastered on her face... Until Reimu and Genji suddenly appeared in front of her. There was no movement or explanation, they simply just appeared there, like it was teleportation. Marisa was confused, and frankly Reimu and her turtle also looked like they were confused. As far as the magician protégé was certain, neither of them possessed the power to teleport from one area to another, even if it was an area that was only a few inches away from them.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" Marisa yelled.

"I don't know." Reimu answered, scratching the side of her head as she was trying to connect the dots herself. "I just wanted to get out of that cage of danmaku, and then Genji and I were in this weird place that didn't feel like it was a part of reality, and then we were suddenly here in front of you."

Marisa had an incredulous expression on her face with her jaw hanging from her face, her arms slumping as she remained sat on her broomstick. "That literally explains nothing." Marisa said, sitting up and no longer slumping her arms. "That literally explains nothing."

"You already said that." Genji said, having recovered from his own bemusement brought upon by the random teleportation act that he and Reimu had done. And Genji was certain that it was Reimu that did the teleporting.

"I know, and it needed to be said more than once because that literally explains nothing." Marisa responded.

"I think we broke her." Reimu commented, the shrine maiden trainee guilty of feeling some amusement from her friend's reaction of her losing her marbles.

Marisa kept her incredulous expression, the still angry magician pointing her magic wand at Reimu and Genji. Genji flew himself and Reimu out of the way before Marisa fired her laser, the mage reactivating her Orreries System as her livid mind processed that the duo escaped. The holy duo continued to fly out of the way of the star-shaped danmaku, Reimu fired danmaku and ofuda at the broom-riding maiden, the aforementioned protégé shooting lasers and even more stars from her wand.

"I'm really getting sick and tired of all of these stars." Reimu said as the projectiles grazed at her body.

"You're telling me." Genji concurred, flying out of the way of Marisa's attacks. "I don't know if I can really look at the night sky anymore without feeling sick to my stomach because of all these stars that Marisa keeps firing at us."

"I need to end this. Fantasy Seal!" Reimu said, her voice with power as she summoned her spheres. The spheres flew towards Marisa, the maiden quickly flying away by activating her Flashing Comet spell, flying away from the attack as a blue blur. Once again the Fantasy Seal had exploded before it could catch up with Marisa, the magician stopping the spell and grinning at Reimu as she held onto her hat.

"Ha!" Marisa said as she grinned at her friend, getting a little too into the fight. "Looks like your trick failed-."

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu said once again, the spheres flying towards Marisa at even higher speeds.

"Oh-crap-Flashing-Comet!" Marisa said quickly, once again surrounding herself with the blue glow that made herself faster than the Fantasy Seal. The Hakurei attack chased Marisa like before, though it didn't catch up with her. The Fantasy Seal seemed to last longer than the previous ones that Reimu had used, though it didn't last longer than Marisa's Flashing Comet. Marisa had stopped, taking deep breaths as she felt a little tired from her rapid use of such a spell. "Jeez, its got to be tiring to use that Fantasy Seal constantly, right?"

The Orreries surrounding Marisa suddenly broke into pieces, the magician looking incredulously at her broken spell. "Fantasy Seal!" Reimu announced again, seemingly not being exhausted by her constant use of the destructive attack.

"You gotta be _fucking_ kidding me!" Marisa yelled, activating Flashing Comet once again. Marisa once again sped through the air, though her speed was starting to decrease as the blue glow disappeared. Marisa came to a stop, looking at her hand with fear a she realised that the time for her Flashing Comet spell had ran out. Marisa then suddenly noticed the Fantasy Seal surrounding her, knowing that she had no chance to escape to attack. "Welp, I lost."

The spheres exploded around Marisa, shooting the protégé towards the floor at high speeds, unable to stop her decent, leaving her defeated.

"Hello, officer? I would like to report shrine maiden brutality." Marisa mumbled in her dazed state as she laid on the floor with smoke coming from her body, her eyes in the form of spirals as she was left only in a half conscious state.

Mima floated over Marisa, her arms crossed. The ghost didn't look angry this time, she didn't even look disappointed; she simply had an expressionless face. Mima's spectral body began to shake as she started laughing. "Wow, even when I trained you even further, you still lost to the shrine maiden trainee. Wow, Marisa, it just looks like you aren't fated to win." Mima said between laughs, seemingly leaning back against the air as she kept her hands on her stomach. "I guess you'll never be able to surpass Reimu, Marisa. Looks like you'll have to get used to the fact that the highest you could ever amount to is second strongest. Third strongest, if you can't surpass me."

"You truly are merciless, Madam Mima." Marisa mumbled as she fully regained her consciousness, the girl managing to sit up, even though her back had practically screamed from the pain.

"I try." Mima responded with brazen pride. Genji and Reimu lowered down to the floor, appearing next to the protégé and mentor.

" ** _Congratulations, Reimu Hakurei, you are the official winner of the Probability Space Hypervessel~!_** " Yumemi announced with excitement in their voice. The spheres flew back into the ceiling, the screen on the wall changing to show the picture of Reimu with the words 'CHAMPION' written underneath the picture in gold, with animations of confetti and fireworks appearing on the same screen. " ** _You all have fought well and shown great skill and power. Even you, Rikako, have proven your worth by showing great skill by creating inventions that could allow you fight on par with the others, despite the great limitations of your country. As a reward, you all shall pass through the door and receive a gift of your choices, though you can_** ** _only pick one each._** "

A door opened, revealing a hallway illuminated by mysterious lights. No one knew if that was the same hallway that they entered through or not, but no one really cared.

"Well then, I guess it's time to get these gifts of hers." Mima said.

"If I can finally get something to improve my research of science further, then I guess this huge waste of my time was worth it." Rikako said.

"I'm happy that I was able to help you with your research, Rikako~." Kotohime said happily, having put her kimono back on. Kotohime's eyes were filled with sparkling, shining stars. "I hope there is something beautiful and shiny waiting for me there, something I could put on a pedestal in by bedroom and admire every morning when I wake up, every night before I go to sleep, and devote an hour or two somewhere in between to just bask in its shiny, shiny glory."

"Say, how were you able to cover your police uniform under your kimono?" Reimu asked of the scarlet-haired princess as she approached her, the shrine maiden trainee having gotten off her holy turtle.

"Magic, of course. I enchanted my kimono so I am able to wear other clothes under it." Kotohime said happily, suddenly doing a weird salute with her index and middle finger pressed against her temple. "It makes me the perfect undercover cop, if only Mum and Dad could let me wear makeup to hide my face so I can be undercover."

"La la la la la la la~." Ellen said as she started walking through the hallway with her arms outstretched, Sokrates awake and on her shoulder.

"It doesn't matter what Yumemi has for us, I already know that my greatest wish will be granted~." Kana said happily as she floated over the air through the hallway, her hands behind her back and an extremely happy expression on her face.

"I wonder what she wishes for." Reimu commented as she walked down the hallway, her gohei over her shoulder.

"Yeah... I wonder~." Mima said in a suspicious tone as she floated by, floating on her side, an expression as suspicious as her voice on her face. Reimu and Genji glared at the ghost, knowing that she has something planned to do with the poltergeist.

The maidens and turtle kept going down the hallway until they met a closed set of doors. "Oh my, looks like a dead end." Kana commented, the blonde ghost floating towards the doors, her spectral body not managing to pass through the metal. "Just as I expected, I can't pass through."

"Oh, do we just give up now?" Ellen asked.

"I don't think there's anything for us to give up to." Marisa commented, a bead of sweat falling down from her temple. Marisa suddenly grinned at the doors, pointing her wand towards them. "'Sides, why give up when we can just blast 'em to the other side of Gensokyo?"

The star at the end of the wand flared with a blue glow and pushing out a slight force of air, charging up a powerful force of magic. Marisa was going to blast the doors with a powerful spell, but she was stopped as Mima put her hand over the protégé's, the tremendously powerful ghost using her own magic to dispel the spell that Marisa was going to cast.

"Hey, why'd ya do that?!" Marisa yelled at her master angrily.

"That spell would have done nothing to destroy the doors." Mima explained in a calm but emotionless voice. "If anything, you would probably end up killing yourself and some of the others here. I think your judgement of what the right spells are is off, I think you might have suffered more damage to your head from your battle with Reimu than expected."

"Oh, I can help with that~." Ellen said as she placed her two hands on Marisa's temples, a green glow coming from her palms as she worked her healing magic on Marisa's brain.

"I forgot she could do that." Kotohime commented before looking at Mima. "So what spell will work?"

"Hold on, let me see." Mima said, the ghost summoning her glasses and putting them on, inspecting the metal doors immaculately.

"How is seeing something up close going to help you?" Kana asked. Mima took her glasses off and looked at the other ghost with a slight glower. Kana didn't react under the other ghost's eyes. "Last time I heard, those enchanted glasses should allow you to see far away things up close. I don't understand how that'll help you."

"It is true that these glasses' main enchantment allows it to be used to see thing from a far distance, but I can easily change the enchantment, as I have done the moment I summoned them seconds ago." Mima explained, putting her glasses back on and looking at the metal doors. "This time, the enchantment allows me to look at something or someone and know what spell or magic is best needed for the situation. Give me enough time and I'll know the perfect spell to cast to open this door."

"Then what is the spell that is needed?" Reimu asked, the shrine maiden trainee deciding to sit atop of Genji.

Mima took off her glasses and closed the temple, a smile on her face. Everyone, even the magic-hating Rikako and the dubious Genji, were excited for what she would say with that sure expression on her face. "None in my arsenal." Mima explained. Everyone felt their happiness drain away and fell down.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Genji commented.

The metal doors in front of the magical beings opened up, revealing an incredibly dark room. It was so dark that not even the lights from the hallway could penetrate through it. Even Mima, a being of the darkness that can see through the night easily, could only see faint shapes. Though they were all tentative, all of the magical beings stepped forward, entering the impossibly dark room. The doors slammed shut behind them, making a long echo throughout the room, showing how huge and empty it was. The only traces of light were the ones from behind the doors, and even then they vanished in an instant.

Just when it seemed like it was completely impossible to move anywhere, a light shined from the distance, showing a vaguely humanoid shape. The humanoid easily recognised the magical beings as it shined its mysterious lights on them, walking closer and closer. They all prepared to fight against the mysterious being if it intended to do anything harmful, Reimu pulled out her ofuda and pointed her gohei at it, Marisa pointed her magic wand at it, Mima summoned her sceptre and already had enough magic power to blast the thing into the next life, Ellen's hands were surrounded by odd sparkles that could be presumed as her power, Rikako reached into her lab coat and pulled out some odd spiked balls, Kotohime unsheathed her katana as her mad face had appeared, and Kana merely summoned her iconic stop sign.

The light suddenly turned on, illuminating the once imperceivably dark room. The lights had also shown who the humanoid was.

It was a blonde girl in her teens, holding an odd object in her hand.

"Oh, it's just a teenager." Mima said, the ghost making her crescent wand vanish. Similarly, the other magical girls decided to put their weapons away. "She may be older than Reimu and Marisa, but her magic power is an exact zero. If I could guess right, you're an Outside World human, aren't you? I can tell because even the regular humans of Gensokyo that can barely even pull of a magic trick have at least an iota of magic, and that's something that not even you have."

"Correct, I am an Outside World human." The blonde girl responded, wearing a sailor suit. Though it was rather faint at the moment, the sound of oncoming footsteps could be heard, and there was very little time between each step. "Don't underestimate this device I have in my hands; it may be tiny and used as a flashlight, but this little gizmo can disintegrate any human with a small hit; even steel is melted the very second it makes contact with the beam made from this bad baby. So give up now or-!"

"Chiyuri, you idiot!" A red-haired woman who looked like she wasn't much older than the sailor suit-wearing woman yelled as she socked her in the side of the head, causing the blonde to tumble over and fall to her side, the odd item falling out of her hand. "You wasn't supposed to do that! You stupid idiot! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!"

The older-looking woman continued to hit the other girl, Chiyuri, on the same area of the head with each time she yelled 'Idiot!', leaving a large lump on the side of her head.

"Well... this weird." Kotohime commented.

"Amazing, I didn't know that this was needed for the world of science...!" Rikako breathed, misinterpreting the red-haired woman's anger.

"Oh boy, it's just a vaudeville." Mima said, smirking at the sight. "Hard to believe that one of these two clowns made this place."

"Always who you least expect." Marisa commented, the witch holding her broomstick over her shoulder.

The other woman had finally stopped hitting Chiyuri on the top of the head, the poor blonde's lumps having lumps on them. The woman cleared her throat, wiping her skirt. "I'm sorry for that, it seems that Chiyuri here had a moment of idiocy and thought that it was wise to threaten you." The red-haired woman apologised, her voice seemingly sincere. "Though it is good that I intervened when I did, as her claim isn't false."

"It's amazing to meet you two, honestly it's an absolute privilege." Rikako said excitedly as she appeared in front of the two in an instant, the self-proclaimed scientist grabbing hold of the red-haired woman's hands and shaking them. "I-I'm Rikako Asakura, a former magician who has found out the true path. If it isn't a bother, great goddess of science and knowledge that you are, could you please teach me everything - absolutely everything - that you know about science, my life would feel complete."

"I already know about you, Rikako." The red-haired woman said, removing her hands from Rikako's. "I know about all of you. Even you, Kana, I know to an extent."

Chiyuri suddenly jumped back onto her feet, the lumps on her head having vanished, the blonde doing a salute. "I am Chiyuri Kitashirakawa, the graduate student of professor Yumemi." Chiyuri said, the girl moving out of her salute. "I am also the official sailor of the Probability Space Hypervessel."

 **Sailor of Time**

 **Chiyuri Kitashirakawa**

"And I am Yumemi Okazaki, the creator and captain of the Probability Space Hypervessel." The red-haired woman, Yumemi, said. "I am a brilliant genius of the Outside World. Despite being only eighteen, I have made many revolutions to the scientific community. And my latest, and no doubt greatest, contribute is official data that proves the existence of magic."

 **Fantasy Legend**

 **Yumemi Okazaki**

"I expected you be this mysterious Yumemi." Mima said.

Yumemi let out an excited giggle, the woman quickly wiping her hand against her red hair. "Not what you expected, huh?" Yumemi said in response.

"I guess not, though frankly you're rather disappointing." Mima said without a hint of shame.

Yumemi went still, the professor silent as she just kept a happy face. "Well it doesn't matter, I didn't come here for your compliments." Yumemi said, the air in the room suddenly beginning to feel a little thicker. "The purpose that we came here was to collect magic data. And the reason why we collected you here was for all of you, because we want all of you."

"Whoa, is this some sort of marriage proposal?" Marisa jested, the maiden holding her broomstick over her shoulder, a wide smirk on her face.

"I can't just be married like that," Kotohime said, "Sorry, but my parents are strict about these kinds of things and do have to do things that I can't remember."

Reimu was silent, her body shaking. "Lady Reimu, is something wrong?" Genji asked, the ancient turtle none the wiser to Yumemi and Chiyuri's true intentions.

"I'm sorry, but I can't marry you. I'm saving myself for Meira!" Reimu apologised, sounding like she was crying.

"Didn't she tell you outright that she doesn't want to marry you? And didn't you accept that she doesn't want to marry you?" Genji, Mima and Marisa said in a bored tone towards the shrine maiden trainee, the aforementioned trainee huffing and looking away with a blush in her face.

"They aren't here to marry us, I'm certain of that." Kana said, a serious look in her yellow eyes. The poltergeist got everyone else's attention, Yumemi and Chiyuri's eyes were covered by shadows created by their hair. "Back on the mansion that I've used to haunt, I saw many things similar to this on the TV. Whenever it would by in TV shows, cartoons, movies, or even stories based on things that actually happened. It's never been anything like this, but I still connected the dots. They want to take us to the Outside World, take us there as living proof of the existence of magic. This place and the tournament held earlier were only a trap."

There was nothing but complete silence for a few seconds, until Marisa decided to finally break it. "So, you came here to kidnap people, didn't ya?" Marisa said towards Yumemi and Chiyuri, the blonde gripping her wand in her hand. "You got a whole lotta nerve trying to kidnap us when we got tons of magic power while you have none."

"B-but that can't be true." Rikako argued, incredulous of such a face. "They fully understand science and why it is better than magic, they would never stoop so low for something pathetic like magic. Right?"

"If you have kidnapped Gensokyo residents in the past, and if you are planning to kidnap us now, then you're under arrest!" Kotohime snarled at the two, showing a side of herself that was different from the carefree attitude and insane attitude that she showed earlier, pulling out her unsheathed katana.

"Oh no, this looks bad." Ellen said, worried.

"Well now, this day got a little more exciting than before." Mima commented, a flippant and calm expression on her face as she her arms were crossed over her chest in a lax manner, being the only one of the magical beings that wasn't angry or worried.

Yumemi turned her head up, the shadows covering her eyes disappearing. "Well now, and it seemed like things were going exactly to plan." Yumemi said, sounding completely calm about the magical beings' knowledge, like it wasn't even a worry for her. "I hoped that we could do this the easy way, but it looks like we're going to have to rely on some brute force. You have two options here, either give up or we'll force you to give up."

"Don't underestimate us." Chiyuri said as she pointed her device at the magical beings again. "Giving up is the quickest and safest option you have, not that it'll change the end result."

Mima began laugh in uproar. "Give up? To you two weaklings without even a single _iota_ of magical power? Even that lazy cat on the forgetful girl's shoulder has more magic power than you two combined! What, because you have that little weapon of yours? Ha, that is easily fixable!" Mima said, the ghost using telekinesis to make the small device in Chiyuri's hand float towards her, floating in front of her index finger. Green lightning sparked around the finger, passing onto the device and making it explode. "There, you lost already. As if two Outside World humans could ever contain The Almighty Mima. You already lost!"

"On the contrary." Yumemi said, keeping her smile on her face. "We've already won."

Yumemi snapped her fingers, the room that everyone was within changing. No, they teleported; this room is completely different from the one they were in seconds ago.

Mima suddenly felt a sweat fall down the side of her head, somewhat nonplussed by what just transpired.

"What the...? Teleportation?" Marisa said, looking around the room; surrounded with many screens that showed different areas of Gensokyo and bunch of stuff that Marisa had no understanding of. "How'd you do that? Teleportation is a thing that can only be done by high-level wizards, and you two are completely magicless."

"In the Outside World, humans have already mastered technology capable of manipulating space, thus we found out that the art of teleportation is rather simple; you just manipulate the vectors of teleportation, and then instantaneous travel is no longer a thing of fiction." Yumemi explained like it was simple knowledge. Who knows, if Yumemi has said is true, then it probably is the case in the Outside World. "You'll have plenty of time to learn about it when you're in the Outside World; your new home. Chiyuri, now!"

"Right away, Yumemi." Chiyuri said, the blonde girl suddenly in front of a large screen with a bunch of buttons underneath it. Chiyuri pressed down on one of the buttons, and Reimu and Genji, Marisa, Mima, Ellen and Sokrates, Rikako, Kotohime, and Kana, were all trapped within their own respective glass cages.

"What the...?!" Reimu said.

"You should all feel honoured," Yumemi said, a large smile growing on her face. "Now, you all will contribute more to the world of science than anyone else in the Outside World. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!"

"Do we give up now?" Ellen asked.

* * *

 **Well now, this chapter was a little longer than expected, though I can thank that to it both containing a battle between Marisa and Reimu, as well as the reveal of Yumemi's true intentions. The little thing of Reimu and Genji teleporting is meant to be some foreshadowing or whatever to the fact that Reimu can fly above reality (as shown in the Windows era), more specifically the little teleportation thing that she can do in the fighting games, at least the ones prior to Hopeless Masquerade.**

 **As for Yumemi and Chiyuri being able to teleport, that is mostly thought of from the fact that Chiyuri could seemingly teleport in the original game, at least when she comes to your side to attack you. I kind of foreshadowed them being able to use space-manipulating technology with the Probability Space Hypervessel being far bigger on the inside than the outside. Besides, this is a university professor who is eighteen that has made a dimension-hopping ship and artificial magic, them being able to use technology capable of manipulating space shouldn't be too far-fetched.**

 **Once again, we got some new original spells for Marisa, with her going a little more crazy to win. Hopefully I'll remember to use those spells in later chapters.**

 **Fun fact: I was hoping to get this chapter done and posted by yesterday, when it was still Christmas, but I have I-don't-want-to-do-work-because-I'm-a-lazy-bitch syndrome, or as we otherwise know it, procrastination.**

 **Oh well, late Merry Christmas to those that are reading, whatever time of year it is that you are reading it.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	24. The Sailor that Lept Through Time

"Ah, now this is perfect~." Yumemi said as she smiled at the magical girls (and turtle and cat) that she kept trapped in the glass cages, ineffable excitement that was nearly impossible to contain rushing around within her veins. "Finally, after all those weeks and months of being pointed and laughed at, I'll finally show the world that magic is more than mere fiction. I'll inevitably become one of the greatest scientists that have ever lived."

"Well that sounds good for you and whatnot, but there is a huge flaw in your plan." Mima said calmly, the ghost having calmed from the surprising capabilities of the Outside World human. "Don't forget, as a ghost I have transcended beyond the world of physical matter. I can easily move through this glass like so."

Mima floated towards the class of her cage, the green-haired woman expecting to fly through the glass cube, however she just bumped her head against the cube instead of passing through it. Kana had tried the same trick, however just like the metal doors from earlier, she didn't manage to move through the piece of physical matter.

"After making the Probability Space Hypervessel impossible to move past through, even with intangibility, did you think that the special cages that I made to trap all of you would be as easy as everything else in the world to pass through?" Yumemi said, her mouth in a cracked smirk as she was on the verge of falling into laughter. "I'm a genius, I have already made these things to combat every possible method and attack you could try to escape from them."

"Like Hell you have." Marisa said, grinning as she held her wand high above her head, the little star glowing brightly with magic. "When in doubt, blast the living crap out of what's in your way!"

Marisa waved her wand towards the glass in front of her, shooting a large star-shaped danmaku towards the piece of glass. The danmaku was pure white and glowing, colliding with the glass cage. However, instead of the large explosion that Marisa expected, the danmaku began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller until it was no longer noticeable, and then it was absorbed into the piece of glass.

"What the?!" Marisa said, incredulous of what just happened to her spell. "Why'd the star disappear?"

"It is a simple matter of fact." Chiyuri said smugly, her arms crossed over her chest as she walked towards the cube containing the magician protégé, the other blonde smirking. "Even though we have came to accept that it is impossible for us to ever use true magic, we can still master it in our own ways. One such instance is that we've constructed these cages to absorb magic in its pure form; even though magic doesn't exist in our world, the aether that is needed for its existence still does. These cages break down all forms of magic that come in contact with them, right down to the ethereal matter that makes it up."

To prove the student's point, Ellen fired fireballs at the cage that contained her, Kotohime charged her magic into her katana and shot a purple slash towards the glass containing her, Kana created her fake phantoms and commanded them to attack the cage containing her in any way that they can, and even Mima was shooting a bunch of star-shaped danmaku towards the cages. They were all broken down and absorbed into the respective cages that they were casted towards, the magical beings' efforts being useless.

"Shoot your strongest spells towards them, they will all just be absorbed." Yumemi announced cheerfully, the red-haired woman believing with all her heart that it was finally her time.

" _Even the strongest of spells?_ " Rikako thought as she looked down at her hand, purple lightning sparking around her fingers. " _And when I thought this was a moment where I had to rely on my magic, it's just useless. Though, there are other ways to break out of this._ "

Rikako reached into her lab coat, the self-proclaimed pulling out her cylinder, clicking down on the button and firing a rocket towards the glass, creating an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Rikako expected there to be a hole in her cage, put instead it was fine without even a single crack.

"Don't think that brute, physical force will help you that much either." Yumemi said, keeping her smirk. "This a special type of glass known as Hucium Glass, named after the scientist that invented it; George Hocium. This is stronger than iron, you could hit it with a nuclear bomb and it will still stand with nothing more than a minor crack."

Mima narrowed her eyes at Yumemi as her lips were in a straight line, the magician ghost's eyes suddenly widening as she remembered something. "Oh yeah, how silly of me." Mima said, embarrassed. The ghost rubbed the back of her head, her face red from embarrassment. "I totally forgot about that."

"Forgot about what?" Yumemi asked as she looked at the captured ghost, a faint look of seriousness in her red eyes.

"I can teleport." Mima explained with pride that completely replaced her earlier embarrassment. The serious look in Yumemi's eyes vanished as she became lax and confident once again, though Mima paid no attention or mind to it. "Once I teleport myself out of here, you two are really in for it. With my immense, magical might and your complete lack of powers, you two are going down. And like it or not, I'm going to make you two get ride of those cages."

Mima snapped her fingers, her spectral body seemingly disappearing into nothingness as she activated her teleportation spell. Marisa expected Mima to appear outside of her glass cage, everyone had, but instead some weird, red lightning appeared around the cage. Mima appeared back within her cage, looking exhausted as it seemed like her teleportation spell was stopped.

"What... happened...?" The exhausted ghost asked between breaths, holding onto her spectral stomach as she felt some pain there.

"Like I already explained, due to mastering space-manipulating technology in the Outside World, we have also mastered teleportation via manipulating the teleportation vectors. I simply controlled the vectors of teleportation around your cage to redirect you back to where you were before, no matter where you choose to teleport. It was a little hard to manipulate those vectors to be permanent, but I can already tell that it was worth the effort." Yumemi explained, her smirk beginning to look like a permanent part of her face as she kept it strong. "I have thought of every possible way that you could escape and made this thing to stop all those ways."

"Now it's time to go back to the Outside World and show everyone the biggest breakthrough in scientific history~!" Chiyuri said.

"Indeed, Chiyuri." Yumemi agreed. The professor and graduate student were about to walk off somewhere, most likely to where the control room is, when they heard a loud bang behind them, the two looking back. "What's that?"

Yumemi and Chiyuri looked at Reimu's cage, the shrine maiden trainee whacking the Yin-Yang Orb at the glass cage with powerful strikes in rapid motion.

The two Outside World humans began to laugh at Reimu, still not believing her to be a threat. "Oh don't kid yourself, little girl." Yumemi said, still laughing away. "You'll never break that cage, not ever. Just give up, there is nothing else you can-."

There was then a cracking sound, one that left Yumemi and Chiyuri completely silent. It was suddenly hard for the two teenagers to move theirs bodies as they turned their heads back to Reimu's cage, seeing a small crack on the glass cage. And with each strike that Reimu continued to send towards the cage with the Yin-Yang Orb, the crack got slightly bigger. It was by the tiniest amount, Chiyuri and Yumemi could only notice it because they were focussing on it like a starving predator for its next meal. That is to say, that was how hard they were focusing on it. The crack grew wider, spreading out like it was growing new legs from nowhere. It was far easier for everyone else to know that the crack was getting bigger as it took a shape like that of a spiderweb.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu chanted, the shrine maiden trainee becoming surrounded by yin-yang that glowed different colours, shining with holy power. The Fantasy Seal hit the crack with full force, smashing the glass into multiple pieces. Yumemi and Chiyuri watched with their jaws reaching the ground as Reimu and Genji exited the glass cage, completely incredulous and nonplussed.

"B-b-but how?!" Yumemi stuttered, the professor still trying to comprehend what the purple-haired maiden did. "That glass cage was supposed to be strong enough to take on a hundred tanks and absorb all magic that was exposed to it. And how did your Fantasy Seal work? It should have been absorbed like all other forms of magic!"

"It is not magic, it is holy power; it is not made of aether, but instead it is made of the divine power of the gods." Reimu explained with anger in her voice, annoyed that it seems like no one can make the distinction between holy power and magic. "And it seems like the cages can't absorb the divine power of the gods, thus the power that gave strength to the Yin-Yang Orb and the same power that the Fantasy Seal was made of wasn't taken and instead had worked against the cages. And now it is time to defeat you."

Yumemi and Chiyuri were silent, the two teenagers returning to their laughing from earlier. "You really think you can beat _us_." Chiyuri asked mockingly, a large grin on her face. "We know about your tremendous strength, but we have found a way to become on a completely different level of power."

All of the magical beings, including Reimu and Genji, immediately went on a laughing fit at the blonde's words, completely disbelieving in their claim. "Yeah right, how many times have we told you that you have a magic level of an absolute zero?" Marisa responded, smirking.

"Even Sokrates can defeat you two because he is a magical kitty~!" Ellen said, tossing Sokrates up and down, the white-furred cat not reacting to his master's tossing of him.

"Don't kid yourselves, you don't even stand a chance against Reimu." Mima said, the ghost deciding to 'sit' on her tail once again. "She may be a little girl, and you two may be teenagers, but she has power that is at least in the thousands; far more than the both of you have combined."

Yumemi outstretched an arm, her hand in a flat palm that faced towards the ceiling. Everyone stopped laughing (expect Ellen, who forgot what she was laughing about and just continued because she enjoyed laughing) and instead was silent with cold fear as an infinity (∞) symbol appeared floating above Yumemi, summoned by magic power that the professor shouldn't have. It was dark with a dark purple aura coming from it, bobbing up and down slightly as it floated above her palm.

"What? Impossible!" Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee stepping backwards impulsively.

"It must just be a digital image." Rikako said, trying to comprehend that the magicless being was able to seemingly perform the arcane art. "That's just a hologram."

"I know that it looks like a hologram, but if it is indeed one then we are all living in a simulation." Yumemi said, the scientist tossing the infinity symbol towards Reimu. Instinctively, from all her work as a shrine maiden trainee and because of all the danmaku she has to avoid, Reimu had dodged the infinity symbol, and Genji had also dodged the symbol as he trusted his lady's instincts. The symbol made contact with living matter, creating a huge explosion of a dark purple sphere that expelled tremendous force that pushed Reimu and Genji away from it.

"It... It's magic...!" Mima breathed, the green-haired ghost becoming more incredulous than she has ever been before in her life and afterlife. "How is that possible?! I didn't sense a single spec of magic from either you, your assistant, or that symbol!"

"Yeah, you shouldn't be able to use magic with no magic power." Kana said, glaring at the duo.

"Like I said, we can still master magic in our own ways, even though no magic exists in our world, and everyone of our world, including us, are completely unable to gain magic." Chiyuri explained with an evil grin on her face, the blonde floating above the ground to prove our point. "With the advanced technology of our world, and Miss Yumemi's incredible genius, Yumemi was able to create artificial magic and give it to herself and me. Why don't you explain the rest of it, Teacher?"

"Gladly, I love talking about my accomplishments~." Yumemi said with glee. "You see, it was no easy task, and to be honest it is really more proof of the existence of magic that I plan to show the committee. A few days or weeks after researching magic and other supernatural phenomena within Gensokyo, I was able to emulate it and create artificial magic. Artificial magic is a simple thing; it allows me to copy the capabilities of real magic, such as manipulating matter and breaking the laws of the universe, but it doesn't add any level of real magic to me or Chiyuri. I personally think it's better than real magic, because no one can sense it, thus we can surprise people when we show off our magical capabilities. For instance, like we just did with all of you."

"I can't believe it..." Rikako muttered as she fell to her knees, grabbing onto her long hair. "The two scientists are sacrilegious to science!"

Yumemi and Chiyuri decided to ignore the self-proclaimed scientist's skewered priorities.

"Sorry, but your little Hakurei girl doesn't stand a chance against us~." Chiyuri said cheerfully as she flew around in the air.

"Don't assume so quickly." Genji said. Yumemi and Chiyuri looked at the holy turtle, seeing Reimu standing on top of him, gohei and ofuda in her hands. "Reimu is an exceptionally strong member of the powerful Hakurei bloodline, don't think that two Outside World humans with fake magic can defeat her."

"Oh, we will see about that." Yumemi said, the red-haired eighteen year old remaining on the ground. "Chiyuri, defeat her. But make sure you don't kill her, we still need her to be alive when we present her along the others to the science committee."

"As you say, Yumemi." Chiyuri responded, giving the university professor a salute and turning back towards Reimu and Genji, the holy turtle carrying the trainee on his back, like usual.

"I don't care about you or what your power is, I'll still defeat you no matter what." Reimu said, shooting danmaku towards the blonde while also throwing ofuda towards the Outside World human. Chiyuri flew out of the way, summoning a large, purple circle surrounding her, the circle having much smaller circles on its horizontal and vertical sides. A dense stream of simple, white danmaku shot out from the small circles as Chiyuri summoned multiple lasers, the sailor suit-wearing girl simultaneously dodging the danmaku and paper charms that Reimu tried to hit her with.

"Sorry, but I can't just let you hit me." Chiyuri said, suddenly vanishing in a flash. It seemed like the blonde had completely disappeared, though Reimu felt like she was still somewhere nearby.

"Reimu, behind you!" Marisa yelled, Reimu looked behind herself (mostly because that was where the magician protégé was) and then she noticed Chiyuri behind her, seemingly charging up some spell. Genji flew himself and the shrine maiden trainee away as Chiyuri finished charging up her 'spell', firing away a large quantity of large and powerful blue lasers towards the holy duo. Reimu summoned a blue barrier to guard herself from the lasers that Chiyuri sent towards her, the Outside World human once again disappearing.

"It seems like she's very fond of teleporting." Genji commented, the ancient turtle turning around, where he expected the blonde to appear. She didn't appear there. Reimu was hit in the back by a large torrent of powerful danmaku, the shrine maiden trainee being sent off Genji, the girl grabbing hold of his shell before she plummeted to the floor.

Reimu managed to pull herself back up onto Genji's shell, helped as the turtle-like guardian had used one of his legs to push her up a bit. "It looks like she knew that we would look behind and instead teleported somewhere higher than where she was earlier." Reimu said, looking to where Chiyuri was, the fake magic-using teen teleporting around, firing danmaku and lasers before teleporting somewhere else and repeating. "You're right, she _is_ very fond of teleporting around. It's going to be hard hitting her, but we have to do it."

"I know, Lady Reimu." Genji responded, dodging the danmaku and lasers that the teleporting maiden was firing towards him and the shrine maiden trainee from multiple angles. "Regardless of how important the others are, you are the last remaining member of the Hakurei family, and you're currently wielding the greatest treasure of the same clan. If we are defeated, we are taken away to the Outside World. Without the power of the Hakurei in Gensokyo, the sacred balance will be broken absolutely, and even the Hakurei Barrier may break. And if that last part happens, unimaginable horrors may commence."

"You're right, we must absolutely defeat Yumemi and Chiyuri." Reimu said, firing danmaku towards the blonde-haired girl, though that was very difficult as she continued to dodge all of the holy bullets that the purple-haired maiden sent towards her, most specifically by teleporting out of the way, the Outsider even sometimes firing a large, expanding circle of large, blue danmaku when she teleported; and since she teleported rather frequently, that annoying burst of danmaku was becoming more and more common. "If only defeating _one_ of them on their own was possible!"

Reimu then noticed Yumemi, the other Outsider remaining where she stood earlier, simply watching with her arms crossed over her chest, still smirking as Chiyuri was clearly having the upper hand in the battle. Reimu thought, knowing that Genji was the one that was primarily handling the dodging, that maybe she could take this chance to fire at Yumemi as the red-haired woman's guard was down; as far as the trainee was sure, she could use it to defeat the professor and already beat one of the two, and if not it could at least work as a distraction for Chiyuri.

Reimu held out a hand, making a black-white yin-yang appear on it. The maiden threw the orb towards Yumemi with all her might, intending for the artificial yin-yang to explode when it got near her.

Yumemi, however, had teleported away as soon as the yin-yang came close to her. Yumemi was in the air in an instant, flying with no problems whatsoever because of the artificial magic that she invented. The teenager snapped her fingers, making outlines of what looked like holy crosses around Reimu and Genji. The turtle didn't like the look of those outlines, flying out of the way before they completely turned into crosses made out of magic; danmaku magic.

Or, at least, and artificial copy of that magic.

"If you wish to face me, then you must face Chiyuri first." Yumemi said as she floated back down to the floor, her arms folded behind her back.

Genji turned himself and Reimu around towards Chiyuri, the teenager still surrounded by the circle and shooting danmaku and lasers. Reimu fired holy danmaku at Chiyuri, the blonde girl dodging the attacks. Chiyuri charged her artificial magic into a single, blue sphere between her hands, the Outsider proceeding to throw the sphere towards the ground, splitting up into many more spheres of a slightly smaller size. The blue spheres hit the ground and turned into many blue lasers that were aimed upwards and at different angles.

Genji flew out of the way of the lasers, something more easily said than done as there was a dense mass of them, once again all at an odd angle. It wasn't helped that Chiyuri was still firing danmaku towards the holy duo.

"If you are allowed to fire so many danmaku and lasers and all of that, you could at least let me land a single danmaku bullet on you!" Reimu yelled, having to grip onto Genji's shell as he had to move very quickly to avoid Chiyuri's attacks.

"Sorry, but I can't allow that~." Chiyuri responded with a sing-song voice, the Outsider summoning multiple light blue arrows made of artificial magic, outstretching a hand towards the duo and firing the arrows towards them at high speeds, almost moving at the speeds of light.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled with a powerful voice, summoning the yin-yang to shine with different colours, flying around her and destroying all arrows and danmaku that got near her and Genji, protecting them. Chiyuri's face began to change, the blonde fifteen year old no longer having a smug and cheerful smile as her face turned whiter than a sheet, obvious looks of fear in her yellow eyes. The multicoloured spheres flew towards Chiyuri, the Outside World human teleporting away from the Fantasy Seal, though the holy attack just changed trajectory to aim back towards its target.

Chiyuri screamed as the Fantasy Seal came close to her, the otherwise regular human feeling the powerful holy energy emanating from it as it came close, teleporting to a safer area within the room. The Fantasy Seal exploded as Chiyuri teleported away, the blonde girl at a safe distance from the aforementioned explosion. Chiyuri gripped her chest, taking deep breaths as her heart was beating with powerful, audible force.

Chiyuri then heard a sound from behind, the girl looking and seeing the holy danmaku bullets of the shrine maiden trainee heading towards her. Unable to dodge the danmaku because of too little of a time, Chiyuri was hit in the back. Even though the circle continued to surround Chiyuri, she still fell down towards the floor.

"Fuck yeah, we won~!" Maria yelled, a large grin on her face.

"One down, one to go~." Kotohime said, the princess having conjured her pink cloud once again, this time in a much smaller form, sitting on the thing as she watched the battle, surprisingly serene that the fate of whenever she returns home or not is in the hands of a little girl.

"I don't think so just yet." Kana said, seeing Chiyuri float back up on to her feet, though she was rubbing her temple like it hurt. "She may be hurt, but she isn't down just yet."

"Now it's three down, two to go~." Ellen said.

"Are you even aware of what is going on?" Mima, Marisa, Rikako, Kotohime and Kana asked of the oblivious blonde witch.

"Okay, so that is a lot. I'm not really that good at fighting, I'll admit." Chiyuri said as she floated back up, feeling rather embarrassed for herself due to admitting her lack of combat. "Yumemi is the real fighter, she liked to practice things like karate and boxing during her free time for fun. I just like to spend my free time watching anime or reading webcomics, so I can't really fight. A few knocks and I'm out. Wow, this is really embarrassing, especially because I'm fighting for everything we've put a lot of effort into. So, hey, sorry if I'm putting you through a lot, but I go down rather easily. Though I'm still going all out against you, and you're younger than me, so I guess I shouldn't tell you to hold back against me, but you have more combat experience. The again-."

"What's anime and webcomics?" Reimu asked innocently, seemingly focussed more on the Outside World thing than anything else. Everyone else in the room were left dumbfounded by her lack of attention.

"Well, it's not like Chiyuri was saying anything important anyways..." Mima said.

"Whatever, I'm supposed to be defeating you, even if I have to make sure that you're not dead." Chiyuri said, charging magical energy in front of her once again, shooting a large laser from it towards Reimu, instead of from the floor. Genji made an abrupt dodge to the side, the laser missing Reimu, though it still grazed her and burned off a part of her hakama, though luckily nothing explicit was close to being revealed.

Reimu didn't care and fired more danmaku at Chiyuri, the student only once again teleporting out of the way of the attack.

"Damn, our only hope is if she stays still." Genji said, another idea coming to the turtles head as Chiyuri had once again began to summon multiple lasers that shot out from the ground at odd angles. "Reimu, try another Fantasy Seal!"

"Um, actually Gramps, I'm not quite sure." Reimu responded, whacking away some of Chiyuri's danmaku with her gohei. "I already used Fantasy Seal against Marisa a lot today, and if I use even a few more Fantasy Seals, I may become too exhausted to fight, and we're not even fighting Yumemi yet, and according to Chiyuri, she's even stronger. I can't just use my Fantasy Seals carelessly."

"Oh, I'm sorry for forgetting, Lady Reimu." Genji apologised sincerely, still dodging the danmaku that the teleporting Chiyuri was sending towards him and Reimu. "I forgot how exhausting Fantasy Seal can be to Hakurei shrine maidens, especially trainees. I hope you can forgive me."

"I can always forgive you, Gramps." Reimu replied happily and honestly, patting Genji on his rough head.

Chiyuri summoned multiple vermillion-coloured anchors, the anchors floating in the air beside their summoner, pointing towards the shrine maiden trainee and turtle-like entity. The red anchors shot towards the duo, the aforementioned human and supernatural entity flying away from the Outsider's fake anchors, said anchors having red chains attached to them to make it harder to dodge them.

Reimu charged up the same concentrated amount of holy energy that she used to make the yin-yang projectiles (separate from the Yin-Yang Orb), though she decided to make more of them, but with the limitation of them being smaller. Nevertheless, there were many of them, bouncing off the walls, making them harder for Chiyuri to dodge. The blonde Outsider was able to dodge the yin-yang while simultaneously controlling the anchor projectiles, though it was evident that trying to do both actions that require great focus at the same time were causing her to not do well with either.

"We have to keep this up, Gramps. I think she's starting to have troubles." Reimu said as she began to fire her danmaku towards Chiyuri once again, the blonde having to sacrifice her anchor aim even more as she dodged the magical bullets made of holy power while also dodging the fast-moving yin-yang that were bouncing off the walls. Reimu was aware that Chiyuri wasn't teleporting, maybe her current actions, particularly the use of her anchors, hindered her from being able to use such an ability as she wishes. "We just have to hold on!"

While dodging the constant anchors that were flying towards him and Reimu, Genji began flying to multiple red chains that were attached to the anchors, densely together like a spiderweb; if the duo were to fly into that, then they wouldn't be able to slip through it, and despite their thin size, the chains could probably do significant damage to the human and holy entity.

Genji had to come to an abrupt stop and then fly upwards, something which left Reimu slightly stunned for a few seconds before she regained proper consciousness.

Reimu had to move her head to the side as a yin-yang was sent flying towards it, the shrine maiden trainee looking up at Chiyuri. The Outsider was beginning to sweat and breath deeply, signs that she was starting to get exhausted from all the energy she was using. It seemed as though even the artificial magic that she was relying on had to take its energy from her, just like real magic.

That was honestly something that Reimu could use to her advantage, especially as it makes Chiyuri tired.

"Gramps, I think that I can spare a few more Fantasy Seals to use." Reimu said as Genji was flying around in the air at high speeds, making many twists, turns and zigzags as danmaku and projectiles of all forms were flying in all directions from all directions at fast speeds. The sight alone and the obvious strain it was bringing on Genji to dodge them was enough to make the other magical girls actually feel grateful that they were trapped inside the glass cages with virtually no chance to escape. Reimu leaned close to Genji as she rode the flying turtle, focussing on her tiring enemy. "I just need to get close to her. I still can't spare all my Fantasy Seals, so I have to make sure that this one counts, because I'm going to need all the Fantasy Seals that I have to fight Yumemi."

"Okay, My Lady." Genji responded, the turtle flying closer and closer towards Chiyuri, avoiding the magical bullets summoned by the Outsider and the one riding him, getting closer and closer to the blonde slightly as she was left unaware of his and Reimu's plan. If Reimu could grab hold of Chiyuri as she chants the Fantasy Seal, it could hit the student at point-blank with no way of escape. If the tired maiden isn't able to withstand as much as some of the foes that Reimu has fought in the past... A win may be granted if this plan works successfully. Get as close as you wish. I'll even fly to make sure we are right at her side for when you cast the Fantasy Seal, Just make this count, Lady Reimu. And above all, be safe. That is what matters most."

"I will... Genji." Reimu responded calmly. Genji suddenly receded his legs back into his shell, a feat that wasn't all that amazing as even the regular turtles that slowly tread the ground can perform such an action flawlessly. Rather, it was confusing as to why Genji chose that moment to do it, where the vast field of dangerous magic attacks was at some of its most dense ever. "...Genji?"

"Hold tight, Lady Reimu." Genji responded, the turtle acing towards Chiyuri. The aforementioned maiden was beginning to look dizzy, looking like she was about to fall unconscious. It would be no surprise, doing the difficult tasks of dodging magical bullets that shot through the air at high speeds while controlling so many magic anchors that were most likely as overwhelmingly fast as the regular magic bullets... Genji could consider her lucky if such multitasking doesn't send the mind of a novice like herself asunder.

But now wasn't the time to compliment the enemy, especially giving them accolades. Such a serious situation should be responded with serious behaviour; these selfish Outsiders could cause the downfall of both Gensokyo and the Outside World. The mass massacre... at least either humanity or youkai would go extinct if the Hakurei Barrier was broken after both worlds have evolved to many levels.

"Okay, I'm holding tight." Reimu responded, laying down on her stomach on the giant turtle, her chin resting against the edge of the front of his shell as her stretched out toes almost touched the opposite side.

"Tighter!" Genji commanded, keeping his focus on Chiyuri, trying to find the exact right moment to shoot towards her while also dodging the danmaku that was surrounding him and Lady Reimu. "I'm going to rocket at a speed that I have never gone before, you must hold onto my body tighter than ever before if you don't wish to be sent flying off!"

Reimu wrapped her arms and legs around Genji's large body as best as she could, a rather troublesome action from her short limbs. It suddenly felt like Reimu was clinging to Genji for dear life within a large tornado with the speeds that Genji was flying at.

"Keep aware, Lady Reimu!" Genji commanded as he flew the trainee closer and closer to Chiyuri, though it felt like she would be right to her side in any second with how ironically fast the turtle was moving. "The instant you are close to Chiyuri, jump onto her and wrap your limbs around her like an army of hungry snakes. Use Fantasy Seal the instant you grab hold of her, use it before she even has a chance to budge you off...!"

Almost like a coincidence, time had slowed down to the closest speed there was to frozen, while still moving. It felt like Reimu was the only one aware of the immense slow down in time. After those previous seconds of everything moving so fast that even she could barely see what was going on, it felt like everything was moving as slowly as possible for her to defeat Chiyuri. Even as she was aware of this immensely slow time, her body was barely keeping up with her commands. As she loosened her arms and legs and got off Genji, it finally felt like time was speeding back up to its regular rhythm. Before she knew it, Reimu's body had collided with Chiyuri's, the Outsider still taking a while to process such an action as her mind was still in an uncomfortable place from all the massive mental and physical effort.

The shrine maiden trainee's limbs wrapped tightly around the teenager's body like some second instinct. It took only a few more seconds for Chiyuri to realise what was going.

"H-hey, what are you doing?!" Chiyuri said as she immediately began to shake her body around, trying to get Reimu to fall off of her. It was fruitless though, as Reimu had already secured her limbs around Chiyuri's own, and there was now nothing short of telekinesis or the strength of a youkai that could rip the purple-haired little girl off her. And neither Chiyuri or Yumemi had either. "Let go of me! We're in a fight, I can't trust you with such contact!"

"Fantast Seal!" Reimu commanded, her voice with power as the yin-yang appeared and circled around Reimu and Chiyuri. "There's no way that you can dodge this now. The best that you can do is just hope it doesn't sting."

"F-fool!" Chiyuri yelled, looking at Reimu with a smug smile, a look of victory in her eyes. "Do you really think that this will work? This attack may be enough to defeat me, but you won't be so lucky either. If you don't let go of me, then your own Fantasy Seal will hit you."

"Actually, you're proven wrong." Reimu responded, causing Chiyuri to look at her with a comical expression of disbelief. "You see, the Fantasy Seal can't hurt the user or anyone that they don't deem as a foe. All I need is for this attack to hit you, because I will come out fine."

"...Fuck!" Chiyuri cursed as the yin-yang shot towards her and Reimu, the Outsider having no chance to escape as she was caught in an explosion of holy energy.

Both the young girl and the teenager were engulfed in a cloud of smoke caused by the explosion of holy energy. All of the danmaku and other projectiles were vanquished into nothing from the power of the explosion. A small form was sent flying out of the smoke clouding, spinning around as it flying through the air. Genji made a quick calculation of where the small form was heading, flying to where it was going, letting it land on him. As Genji had expected, it was Lady Reimu, completely unharmed from her Fantasy Seal.

Another form, one much taller than Reimu's, fell down from the smoke cloud, hitting the metal floor face first. If Chiyuri was still a completely normal human, such a fall would definitely be fatal. But it seems that, among the many other things that make artificial magic seem like real magic, it also affects the physical capabilities of the wielder so they can easily survive damage that would otherwise be fatal to a normal human.

"Ohhhhh…!" Chiyuri groaned in pain as she rolled onto her back, sitting back up and rubbing her head as it hurt. That was something that she would definitely not be able to do if she was still a normal human. "I don't think... I can fight anymore."

"Idiot!" Yumemi yelled, the redhead appearing by Chiyuri's side and giving her a hard whack on the side of her head, causing her to fall to her side. "I put my absolute trust and faith in you, and you still lost. She should have been exhausted by everything that she has gone through today, how can you possibly lose?!"

"She's... so strong…!" Chiyuri muttered before becoming unconscious, a large lump on the side of her head.

Yumemi just made an annoyed sigh, flying up into the air until she was on an even level as Reimu and Genji. "It seems like it's as they always say: if you want something done, do it yourself. Or something like that. Nevertheless, this isn't the right look for a battle. Even if everything that I have worked for is on the line, I still want to look cool for this; like some anime hero that is going to defeat the villain." Yumemi said, the professor snapping her fingers, summoning a long, black cape out of nowhere. "Ta-da! My transformation is complete."

"All you did was add a cape." Mima responded, the ghost still watching the battles going on, like everyone else who was still trapped in those otherwise impenetrable glass cages. "Pretty uninteresting transformation if you ask me."

"Hey, capes are awesome and you're in denial!" Yumemi yelled at the ghost, the Outsider clearing her throat as she tried to regain her professional and serious air, looking back at Reimu. "This is the end, Shrine Maiden of Fantasy. I have worked too hard for this, I won't let you take away everything that I've spent months working for. This is the end of the line. Witness the power of artificial magic at its strongest, by the very creator of it. Soon you, and the rest of both worlds will forever now this name: Yumemi Okazakiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

* * *

 **And that wraps up the battle against Chiyuri, with the very end of this current arc being on the horizon. All Reimu has to do is defeat Yumemi and then everything should be alright.**

 **As for this battle, I decided to make Chiyuri inexperienced in fighting, since it would make sense that a fifteen year old with fake magic wouldn't know that much about fighting, even though Reimu and Marisa are younger than her and are good at fighting. I guess it's more of a case of them having already been trained in combat and whatnot despite their younger lives.**

 **The last line was a little more over the top than I wanted it to be when thinking it out, but I have no regrets. NO REGRETS!**

 **The anchor idea was mostly to connect with her whole sailor thing, but I was mostly coming up with a few blanks here and there. I guess some of the problem comes with a lack of explanation on what artificial magic is, I guess it's just like regular magic, but no chanting or whatever when casting spells.**

 **I at least hope that I remember to make Yumemi spam her crosses and use a certain idea I have for her battle. Let's just say that if you don't see anything in the next chapter that is named as an Infinity Bomb, then I forgot my idea.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are allowed and appreciated.**


	25. Strawberry Crisis!

Yumemi smiled at Reimu, it definitely wasn't a kindly smile that one would give to a friend - especially as Reimu doesn't consider herself as a friend of Yumemi, at least for the time being. It wasn't even a malevolent smile, or even a cocky smile. It was simply a regular smile; one that was owned by someone who was certain that they would win.

Yumemi shot a hand towards the duo's direction, outlines of holy crosses appearing around them. Already knowing what is to happen with these outlines, Genji flew away from them as they turned into crimson crosses made of magical power, capable of hurting a ton more than danmaku, disappearing shortly after. Yumemi just smirked, snapping her fingers and making other crosses appear, albeit instantly and around her. The professor pointed towards the moving duo, the summoned weapons flying towards them as projectiles.

Reimu fired danmaku at the crosses, though only some of them were destroyed as they came nearer and nearer. As it became obvious that the shrine maiden trainee's idea to just shoot them down was not going to work, Genji flew himself and his trainee out of the way of the crosses, the red items grazing at the human's and turtle's bodies.

"Hmm, so you're having a bit of luck with dodging my special crosses, aren't you?" Yumemi said, keeping her smile as she raised a hand into the air. "That's no mater, no matter at all. I, of course, have managed to learn all sorts about danmaku during my time here. Allow me to demonstrate."

Yumemi released a barrage of the standard white pellet danmaku and larger, spherical orange danmaku, shooting out in every which way as a dense wave. Reimu fired danmaku at Yumemi as Genji flew so that they could both avoid the danmaku that the Outsider was sending towards them, though with how little space Yumemi was giving Reimu (a thing that the shrine maiden trainee was noticing to become very common), they were grazing at a lot of it. Though it was no problem, in fact grazing the danmaku felt like it was giving the shrine maiden trainee some extra energy to continue fighting against Yumemi.

What was also a good thing was that Yumemi was just staying there in the air, withstanding all of the holy danmaku that Reimu was firing towards her. Reimu didn't know if Yumemi had just simply forgotten to dodge, if the danmaku was just barely hurting her at all, or if she had some trick up her sleeve related to the danmaku, but honestly the Hakurei member didn't care or think about it much at the moment, right now the top priority was defeating the Outsider.

Yumemi pointed a hand towards Reimu, firing a tornado of white and orange danmaku towards the shrine maiden trainee.

Reimu had little time to think, the shot of danmaku coming towards her at high speeds. Maybe Genji was think of a way to easily dodge it, like he usually does, but it seemed like the purple-haired maiden was now operating under a different brainwave than the ancient turtle.

Using her link with the Yin-Yang Orb, Reimu made the two duplicates form back together into the singular, real thing. Reimu grabbed hold of it and threw it towards the stream of danmaku with all her might. The ancient and powerful relic destroyed the artificial danmaku like it would with real danmaku, continuing to shoot through the air until it hit Yumemi square in the forehead.

The Outsider ceased her attack as she grabbed hold of the red mark that was now on her forehead because of the relic, throbbing with pain from such a hit. Reimu managed to calm down as she not only stopped the danmaku, but had also done significant damage to Yumemi, the shrine maiden trainee using her link to make it fly towards her and split into two duplicates once again.

"Lady Hakurei, that was a risky decision." Genji said. It didn't sound like he was scolding Reimu for her decision, but the maiden still had a feeling that he wasn't much of a fan of it. "We're lucky that Yumemi didn't use any of her mysterious tricks to capture the Yin-Yang Orb."

"You sometimes worry too much, Gramps." Reimu responded, making the two duplicates fly once again as she used her link with the Yin-Yang Orb. Reimu looked up from the holy entity, seeing that Yumemi was writing something down on a notepad with a pencil.

"Interesting. Interesting." Yumemi mumbled as she continued to write down on the book. "So the power of the Yin-Yang Orb can even break through my powerful artificial danmaku, very interesting. Looks like I'll have to improve on this artificial magic. And even with the tremendous boost to my physical abilities granted by the artificial magic, the Yin-Yang Orb still managed to hurt me. In fact, the pain is still a little throbbing right now. I'm very happy that I picked you out specifically as one of the residents of Gensokyo that I'm taking to the Outside World. Maybe I can get some of the greatest scientific minds in my world to work with yours truly to undertstand how the Yin-Yang Orb works. After, not even you two fully understand it."

"Even if you are right, that is still a very arrogant thing to say." Genji said to Yumemi, the professor putting her notepad and pencil into an unknown area within her dress. "The Yin-Yang Orb is a sacred and powerful item, and if you are willing to make your own, fake version of magic, I'd hate to see what you would do with this. Besides, we are _not_ going to let you take us to the Outside World. The place of both us and the Yin-Yang Orb is in Gensokyo."

"Yeah, Genji and I are going to stop you." Reimu said, pointing her gohei at Yumemi. "We're going free the others, you won't be taking any of us to the Outside World, especially not by force!"

Yumemi made a laugh at the maiden and turtle duo. "It wasn't like I was giving any of you options." The red-haired responded, creating the same black infinity symbol with a dark purple glow that she created earlier ago shortly after Reimu and Genji escaped from that cage they were imprisoned in. Yumemi held her palm out in front of her face, the symbol still bobbing up and down over her hand. "Remember this? Well, prepare to see what it is truly capable of."

Yumemi threw the infinity symbol towards the holy duo, the two already knew to dodge the symbol, exploding as it reached where they were. Reimu and Genji looked at the explosion, seeing a dark purple sphere that was the result. The sphere went away, shrinking and fading out of existence as it no longer pushed out any force. Just when Reimu and Genji were going to look back towards Yumemi, they saw the sphere suddenly bring itself back to life, exploding once again in the exact same form before dying the same way as before. And, like time was on a loop, the explosion happened once again.

"Surprised, aren't you? Even I would be if I didn't spend many sleepless nights working with my artificial magic and genius to create these." Yumemi said, her voice full of pride. The holy duo that she was fighting looked at her, seeing the smug expression on her face. "This is something that I like to call an Infinity Bomb. It's much like any regular bomb, magical or non-magical, except that it takes on the form of an infinity symbol before exploding. But that is not the greatest part about it, for you see this bomb is made out of special particles that make an explosion when too many of them are nearby each other. And after these particles separate as they create an explosion, they then form back together to where they were in the first place to create another explosion. Unless if I want them to stop, these bombs can explode again and again indefinitely."

"So she's created a bomb that can explode again and again?" Genji muttered in disbelief.

"That's a really unfair move." Reimu said.

"In the world of science, it doesn't matter if you're fair or unfair." Yumemi said, making more Infinity Bombs appear around her as she was going to use the perpetually exploding symbols. "As long as you have the skill, the power, whenever you cheat or play unfair, if it allows you stay on top of those around you and succeed, then it's what you have to do."

"Yo, Eggplant, defeat this crazy bitch already, it's boring sittin' in here, y'know." Marisa yelled out from with in her cage, using her magic to augment her voice. "Also, teach me 'bout that endlessly exploding bombs thing."

"Show that heathen what she deserves for her misuse of science!" Rikako yelled.

"May your beautiful danmaku dispel the evil witch taking us hostage." Kotohime said, keeping a calm and happy expression on her face.

"You seem strong, you just have to last longer and defeat her." Kana said.

"Free us of the Spiderwackle Curse!" Ellen yelled from out of the blue, the witch falling asleep in less than even five seconds.

"For as long as I can remember, you Hakureis never give up." Mima said. "If you didn't give up when you fought me in Reimaden, then you shouldn't give up now. She's just a human, a very mortal creature, with fake magic. You should be able to defeat her. Remain determined, win this battle."

Reimu looked at the other trapped maidens, all relying on her to win this for their freedom from this seemingly crazy Outsider. "I wasn't really planning on giving up anyways." Reimu said calmly, all of the other maidens (sans Ellen, who was still sleeping) letting out a droplet of sweat in response.

" _Sometimes I wish they would remember my importance._ " Genji thought.

"Your words of courage seem like something in an anime that I'd watch, but it seems like something the supporting characters would say to the main protagonist as they are trying to defeat the main villain." Yumemi said, the scientist keeping the Infinity Bombs surrounding her, a wide smile still on her face. "Well then, if I have to play the role of villain, then I guess I'll just play that role. Let's try to keep this from becoming anticlimactic, Hakureeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!"

The Infinity Bombs flew towards Reimu and Genji at high-speeds, the symbols exploding as they came near to the duo, the bombs exploding in the same spot over and over again, making the battlefield even smaller.

"How do you like this, Reimu?! Doesn't this make things more fun~?!" Yumemi said, summoning multiple crosses and a few more Infinity Bombs, all of which she shot towards Reimu and Genji, the aforementioned trainee and spirit firing danmaku at Yumemi once again, the professor still preferring to just take it instead of fly or teleport away. "This is the power of my marvelousness. This is the power of the Outside World~! See what a normal human can do~? When the scientific community sees this, they'll have no choice but to accept my theory of magic~!"

"I think she's starting to go a little crazy." Reimu mumbled, the shrine maiden trainee still firing danmaku and even ofuda at Yumemi as Genji flew out of the way of the white and orange danmaku and crosses, whilst also avoiding all the continuously exploding spheres that were the Infinity Bombs.

Reimu summoned one of her black-white yin-yang and threw it at Yumemi. This time the scientist did teleport away, though she was secured as she was behind multiple bombs that were exploding again and again.

"I won't let you win." Yumemi said, summoning more crosses around the shrine maiden trainee in an attempt to stop her. Genji flew around the crosses and Infinity Bombs, though that was becoming harder and harder with each second as more and more of them took up space. "I won't lose and let everything - let all of that hard work - from these past weeks - these past months(!) - just go to waste by losing to someone like you!"

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, summoning her six glowing yin-yang the shot towards Yumemi. The red-haired professor, knowing just how powerful and destructive such attacks are, teleported to avoid the attack, though she didn't have a clear idea of where to teleport outside of somewhere in the control room of the Probability Space Hypervessel, thus she found herself at a random area in the control room. Wherever she was, she was in the air and she wasn't facing towards Reimu. There were multiple Infinity Bombs that were exploding over and over again, and red crosses, but that didn't really help her with knowing where she was within the control room.

Yumemi was suddenly hit in the back by holy danmaku, the bullets doing greater damage to her than before as she wasn't prepared for the attack.

Yumemi was sent flying around the control room from the force of the attack, the world seemingly spinning around her before she was finally able to get the better of her flying abilities and stop. Yumemi made a groan as her head felt a little light, the professor knowing that her Infinity Bombs had ceased as she could hear no explosions. But that was no matter, as long as the particles for the explosions haven't been separated for more than a minute, she can still make them come back together and continue their indefinite exploding.

Yumemi was able to gain sight of Reimu again, the shrine maiden trainee firing holy danmaku at the Outsider. Yumemi quickly flew out of the way, summoning more infinity symbols that she threw at the duo, the symbols exploding as Infinity Bombs. Even though the Infinity Bombs were taking up a lot of space, Reimu and Genji were having no real problem dodging the constant explosions, especially as the aforementioned explosions didn't move from place to place. Yumemi glowered at the two as she summoned more of her crosses and aimed them at the duo. She could possibly trap the two in a cage of Infinity Bombs, like what Marisa did with the star-shaped danmaku, but it was hard as they continued to fly all around the area.

And it wasn't like Yumemi herself was immune to the Infinity Bombs; artificial magic or not, bombs are still bombs!

"I will not lose! I will not lose! I will not lose!" Yumemi began to yelled as she was firing endless orange danmaku and red crosses towards the holy duo, repeating the same words over and over again, like it was some mantra that she needed to repeat to make sure that she will succeed.

While Reimu had personally understood that it may take a lot of effort to get where she is, and the trainee would otherwise sympathize with her to lose everything she's worked hard for, but with what was going on, with her plans to kidnap the people of Gensokyo just to bring magic to a world without it.

In the end, Gensokyo is above all in Reimu's eyes, and she'll do anything to protect it.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, becoming surrounded by the holy attack. Yumemi flew away from the attack, though it seemed like the Fantasy Seal was flying even faster than her, catching up on her, even as she flew away with all her might. Yumemi teleported away, though this time she had more of an exact area in mind within the control room; a tiny corner that was completely free of all Infinity Bombs and crosses.

Thanks to combining her artificial magic and the space-manipulating technologies, Yumemi and Chiyuri had mastered using the teleportation vectors to move somewhere else like how a high-levelled magician can teleport. It may be tiring to use at times, but it was also very helpful.

Yumemi teleported to the safe, little space free of the crosses and Infinity Bombs. The Fantasy Seal changed directions and went towards where Yumemi was now, the professor certain that the attack wouldn't hit her now.

However, it was to Yumemi's surprise that the Fantasy Seal was destroying the crosses and even the Infinity Bombs. Yumemi began to panic, the red-haired teenager looking around to find another safe space to teleport to. But it was meaningless as, when she finally found a good area to teleport to, the Fantasy Seal had hit her and exploded upon contact, filling Yumemi's vision with myriad colours and dancing swirls.

Yumemi felt like she was no longer using her flight ability, though a sensation of floating was still overcoming. Yumemi blinked her eyes, the colours and their dancing swirls fading away until she realised that she was falling. Thinking quickly, Yumemi used her artificial magic powers to make herself float once again, stopping as she was still a certain distance away from the floor.

Yumemi looked back towards where Reimu and Genji are... Or at least where she thought they were. Yumemi looked around, trying to spot the shrine maiden trainee and magic turtle, but she couldn't see them anywhere, like they spontaneously gained the power to turn invisible. Considering that spontaneous teleportation trick that Reimu used in her battle against Marisa, Yumemi wouldn't be too surprised if Reimu had other powers and abilities hidden up her sleeve, or if she was gaining powers from out of nowhere.

Yumemi looked at the imprisoned maidens, they obviously wouldn't help her, so there was no point in asking them for it.

Yumemi then tried to see if she could find Chiyuri, though the sailor-cosplaying student had mysteriously disappeared from where she was.

Yumemi then felt a presence behind her, the Outsider turning around to see a young-looking purple-haired shrine maiden trainee riding on a giant, flying turtle with a large beard, the maiden of the two holding a wooden wand high and above her head. Yumemi could basically feel her iris and pupil shrink in her eyes as the shrine maiden trainee was swinging her gohei down towards her with powerful force, the professor not having enough time to do anything other than scream.

Yumemi was sent shooting towards the floor, hitting it with a loud thud that made Reimu flinch a bit. Yumemi was still on the floor for a few seconds before slowly standing back up, the Outsider floating up into the air.

"I'm not... defeated just yet." Yumemi muttered, covered in bruises from her fall alone. "I can still... win this...!"

Reimu just looked at Yumemi silently as the latter slowly raised higher into the air. "Fantasy Seal!" Reimu said, her multicoloured spheres surrounding Yumemi, hitting her before she had even the chance to escape or block the attack. Yumemi made another plummet to the ground, this time defeated as she slammed against the metal floor.

Genji lowered to the ground, Reimu immediately hopped off and walked to Yumemi, the trainee bending her knees and poking the unconscious girl on the cheek with her gohei. Yumemi just groaned, turning over like she was asleep and didn't want to wake up.

"She's defeated. Definitely defeated." Reimu said, the purple-eyed girl standing upright and looking at the glass cages that were containing her fellow Gensokians flawlessly. Reimu tilted her head as she looked at the cages and the magic-using beings they contained, wondering on how to get them out. "So, umm... does anyone have any ideas on how to get rid of those things?"

"Well you could just do what ya did to get outta your owns cages, with the yin-yang hittin' and Fantasy Seal." Marisa suggested, the protégé leaning against her floating broomstick.

"No, it would take too long and use up my energy. Besides, I don't want to." Reimu moaned, causing most of the trapped girls to slap their foreheads in disbelief. "Are there any other options that I can use?"

"How about you try using that." Rikako said as she pointed at a piece of the wall that stuck out, a screen showing a bunch of numbers and words and a lot of buttons attached to the piece of the wall that stuck out. Reimu approached the thing, trying to understand what it was.

"Hey, does anyone know what this thing is and what it does?" Reimu asked as she looked back at the others.

"That is a thing from the Outside World called a computer, or at least that is my hunch." Rikako said, the self-proclaimed scientist regaining her emotionless guise. "I cannot be certain as I have a very limited experience with computers, since when most of them come here from the Outside World, they tend to be broken or work terribly. Luckily I have also read some Outside World books about computers, even if they also are mostly destroyed, I can still..."

Reimu had gotten impatient, and with absolutely no knowledge on how to use a 'computer', the shrine maiden trainee summoned a yin-yang, throwing the item right at the computer. The screen was cracked and the keyboard smashed as the summoned item broke it with extreme force, causing sparks of electricity to escape and bounce around it like lighting before the entre thing exploded.

The glass cages containing the magical maidens suddenly disappeared. Rikako looked dumbfounded, the former magician having nothing to say in the slightest.

"Yes, finally free!" Marisa cheered as she flew into the air, no longer feeling claustrophobic as she rode the normal broom freely.

"Now that that is over, I think I can finally have what I have been wanting for the last few years~." Kana said as she appeared above Reimu, the poltergeist resting her arms and head on the trainee's head. "I hope you don't mind, but I'll be haunting your shrine for a while~."

"WHAT?!" Genji outburst at the blonde ghost. Genji then turned his head towards Mima, glaring at the ghost as he knew that she had something to do with this decision, especially as she smirked darkly at them, taking clear joy at this new predicament purely because they were happening to Genji and Reimu.

"How long will you be staying?" Reimu asked, not really taking notice of anything except for the spectral being that was leaning on her.

"I'unno~." Kana responded casually with a shrug. "Maybe only for a few years, maybe forever. Only time can tell~."

Reimu sighed, looking at the others, seeing that Kotohime was talking with Rikako, the former having a relaxed smile on her face while the latter kept a bored and emotionless expression. Ellen was just randomly looking into the air, humming a tune to herself as she smiled.

"I'm not defeated just yet!" Yumemi yelled as she suddenly rose to her feet. Yumemi hunched her back and bent her legs as she stood back up, breathing deeply, her uniform covered in tears, her body bruised and damaged. Still huffing and puffing, Yumemi reached into her cape and pulled out a steel ball of with a blinking, purple light on one side. "This...! This is my Four-Dimensional Positron Bomb, a weapon that was capable of destroying the entire world that I have came from. If I can't defeat you and force you to come to the Outside World with me, then I'll just blow this entire place sky-high! Hahahahahahahahaha!"

Yumemi held the Four-Dimensional Positron Bomb high, laughing madly. Something was suddenly behind Yumemi, the unknown thing whacking Yumemi on the head, causing her to stop laughing and remain still before falling down unconscious. As Yumemi fell, Reimu and the rest were able to see that the 'something' was in fact Chiyuri, the blonde still damaged from her battle with Reimu. And the thing that Chiyuri was holding was a metal thing that looked like a chair, except bended somewhere in the middle.

" _That_ was for constantly whacking me on the head." Chiyuri said as she dropped the metal thing beside Yumemi. The Outsider then faced towards the Gensokyo residents that were captured just a few minutes ago, giving them a respectful and apologetic bow. "I'm sorry; Yumemi has been working 24/7 when it came to researching magic and she gets rather delusional and crazy whenever she goes on for too long without sleep. Just let her rest for a few minutes and she should be able to regain her wits and act like herself."

* * *

Yumemi regained consciousness, blinking as her vision started blurry, though everything returned back to normal with each blink until she was alright once again. She sat up, rubbing the area of throbbing pain on her head until it went away. The red-eyed professor looked to her side, seeing all of the Gensokyo residents that she trapped. Except that every last one of them were no longer in their cages and completely free to do what they want with her, especially as she was still weak and tired from her battle with Reimu.

A thing that Yumemi noticed about them was that none of them were looking at her, instead being in a circle and seemingly talking about something. Yumemi didn't know what they were still doing in the Probability Space Hypervessel, as she would leave a mysterious place where someone from another dimension tries to kidnap her in - that was just Yumemi thinking things in their perspective.

Yumemi quickly darted her eyes around the control room, completely unable to find Chiyuri anywhere. Yumemi just decided that it would be best to just assume that she left and leave herself.

Yumemi was able to move silently, the woman checking to find that she still had some energy left, so she could still teleport out of the Probability Space Hypervessel, or at least out of the control room and still escape. However, Yumemi started to feel a sensation in her nose; a tickly sort of sensation. Yumemi's blood ran cold as her heart slowed its beats, knowing well enough what the sensation was.

" _No no no no no no no!_ " Yumemi mentally screamed as she tried to stop herself from sneezing through pure willpower alone. "Don't sneeze! Don't sneeze! Don't sneeze! Don't sneeze! DON'TSNEEZEDON'TSNEEZEDON'TSNEEZE-!"

Yumemi let out a sneeze, the sound causing all of the magical maidens to look at her as they were now aware. Yumemi immediately let out a loud scream, believing that this was now the end of her as they waiting for her to wake up so they enjoy killing her.

This was it, she is already dead. She lost and now they're going to get revenge against her for trying to capture them.

Yumemi was still screaming, though her loud screaming had soon stopped as Mima tapped her hardly on the head with the crescent of her sceptre. "You can stop it with the screaming now, just because I'm dead doesn't mean I'm okay with something loud blaring into my spectral ears." The green-haired ghost said, floating back towards the other maidens as Yumemi finally shut her yap.

"What are you going to do with me?" Yumemi asked, scared of what they could do. She doubted that Reimu or Marisa could do something bad to her, as they were still innocent-minded little girls (though Marisa's willingness for Reimu to be killed during the Story of Eastern Wonderland incident did give Yumemi doubt), but she knew well enough that Kotohime would get her locked in the dungeon (or prison as she liked to call it because of her dreams of becoming a police cop) and that her parents would allow it if they found out about Yumemi's attempt to take her away to be some test subject for magic. Yumemi also knew that, from her legendary infamy alone, Mima would be more than willing to put the Outsider through some horrifying, sadistic torture in revenge. And even though Yumemi knows next to nothing about Kana, she wouldn't dismiss the thought that the poltergeist probably knows some great ways to deal revenge, or that she would be willing to kill, despite her young appearance.

Mima made an evil smile, the ghost using her magic and natural ghost abilities to grow in size until she was gigantic in comparison to Yumemi, her eyes covered in mysterious shadows, the aforementioned organs glowing a menacing red. Mima turned her teeth into sharp fangs like that of a monster, making her fingernails grow longer and turn a scarlet red.

" ** _We'll rip out your organs and burn and cook them in an iron pot._** " The ghost said, her voice suddenly deeper and more demonic. The others behind her looked at each other, feeling a little worried about her threat. This was with the exception of Kana and Marisa, who were quite enjoying the idea and knowing that the green-haired ghost was just jesting, respectively. " ** _Oh, but that is just the start. First we're going to cast a spell on you make you survive having your internal organs ripped out, and then we're going to cast a spell to make you feel your organs as they are boiled in oil, even after they are removed. And after that is over, we're going to make you eat your organs. And when they inevitably come out of the hole in your stomach, we're going to restore them and cook them again, and then feed them to you again. And we're going to do it again and again, without end. Hahahahahahahahahahahaha._** "

Yumemi let out a bloodcurdling scream, her body turning a pale as a sheet of paper. Mima then shrank back down to her regular form, the ghost laughing in her regular voice, her hands on her spectral stomach.

"Jeez, I'm just kidding. It's honestly nothin' to fear about, I'm totally out of that phase." Mima said, wiping away a few tears of joy that she made from her laughter. "It's so funny how you humans overreact whenever the macabre is brought up. Besides, it's not like we would do that since we're the protagonists of this arc."

"What are you talking about?" Kotohime asked, confused by the last sentence of the ghost.

Yumemi was clutching her chest as she was calming down from the morbid 'joke', her heartbeat slowing down and her breathing returning to normal. Yumemi then noticed a certain blonde among the magical beings, one that was still noticeably damaged from her rather recent battle. "Chiyuri, you're alright." Yumemi said, the student walking towards her as she noticed her. "When Mima made that... joke, I thought that they might have killed you, or have done a horrific and supernatural torture on you, like I thought they would do with me."

"Yeah, don't worry." Chiyuri said in a relaxed tone, most likely having already gotten on friendly terms with the magic users. "They're not the best, speaking in terms of being moral, but they're not evil or sadistic. At least not all of them."

"Oh, well then, I guess we can thank The Lord for that." Yumemi said, the red-haired female having regained her senses after actually resting a bit. Yumemi faced towards the maidens and their magical animals, bowing down respectfully towards them. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience that I caused you, but those battles were necessary to gain data on magic. Luckily I have had all data on magic saved on my computer, so it..."

Yumemi turned around towards her computer as she talked, her words slowing down and dying as she took in the sight of her device; seemingly imploded in on itself, smoke emitting from the burnt black corpse of it with electricity sparking from it as its last breaths of life.

Yumemi stared at it blankly, looking like a mother who just saw her child die; like she had stared into the deepest, blackest, darkest void in existence and lost her soul a she saw the oblivion. Yumemi honestly didn't know how to react, because all the data that she spent months of non-stop work to achieve was all gone.

"MY COMPUTER! MY DATA!" Yumemi screeched like a banshee, clutching her temples as she screamed at the top of her lungs, the scream being on an even higher volume than Kana's scream.

"Told you." Chiyuri said to the girls as Yumemi continued to grieve the death of her computer. Chiyuri walked towards Yumemi, the blonde kneeling down and putting a hand on the redhead's shoulder, causing the weeping woman to look up at her with teary eyes. "Hey, don't worry, Yumemi. Remember that we stored all of the data that we collected into the extra files in the second computer."

Yumemi's eyes widened, the professor quickly rising to her feet, the tears around her eyes vanishing in an instant. "Ah yes, the second computer~! How did we forget about that?" Yumemi responded, instantly cheerful. The teenager turned around towards Reimu and co once again. "Thank you for participating in this data research. I promise that I won't get the scientific community to come here and mess things up, but I do hope that all this research and data is enough for them to add magic to the Grand Unified Theory, as well as start production on more artificial magic; it can benefit humanity in ways that we can't even imagine."

"They're going to ruin the name of science forever..." Rikako wept dramatically, brushing away her tears with her hands, the self-proclaimed scientist being ignored by everyone else, with the only exception being Kotohime; and even then, the princess was sweat-dropping at the sight of her friend being overly dramatic.

"Well now, we should be going." Yumemi said, the professor and her student turning around and walking to somewhere else within the Probability Space Hypervessel, a door opening on one side of the room and another on the opposite side. "Be sure to leave the Hyperbessel soon, lest you wish to go to the Outside World~."

"Oh no you don't~!" Mima said, pointing a finger at the two Outsiders. Yumemi and Chiyuri were lifted off the ground by an invisible force, unable to do anything more than kick their legs as Mima used telekinesis to pulled them towards her, turning them around. Mima swiped her finger towards the ground, causing the two Outsiders to slam onto their butts. "You promised us that you would grant our wishes if we fought, and that is exactly what we did. So not only did you not hold up to your end of the bargain, but you also nearly kidnapped us to be experimented on. You should either grant our wishes, or else we should give you some punishment."

"Ah yes, that sounds like a good idea~." Marisa agreed.

"Heeheehee, I think I'm going to have a lot of fun either ways~." Kana said.

"Maybe I should get the royal punishment team, they know what to do if you don't grant our wishes~." Kotohime said, a happy if not slightly sadistic smile on her face.

Yumemi and Chiyuri looked at each other before looking back at the looming ghosts, magician and princess. The two sighed, knowing that they'll have to think and do something quick before they receive whatever twisted punishment the Gensokyo residents were thinking.

* * *

 **And that is the end of the Phantasmagoria of Dim. Dream arc, unless if you consider the next chapter, which is meant to be a breather chapter that takes place between this arc and the Lotus Land Story arc.**

 **The Infinity Bomb idea was created when I thought about the infinity symbol-like bullets that Yumemi shot as her default bullets in the original game, and her charge attack that was like a giant bomb, though the indefinitely exploding part was completely a liberty.**

 **A part of me fears that the battle against Yumemi may have been underwhelming, all things considering, though it was already over 3,000 words when I finished it, so I also think that I did a good job in writing the fight scene, though it is all subjective.**

 **The New Year is coming up real soon, in which all I can say is that this year has been equally horrible and equally amazing. There have been many things that I have hated and many things that I loved, and I know there will be many things that I'll love and that I'll hate when 2019 comes, that is to be expected of each year.**

 **True, things may always get worse, but things can also get better. Here's an early Happy New Year to all readers (if you're reading this chapter on the date that it's been posted or just reading it before the New Year), and may you remember that both good things and bad things are expected in life and in the next years, but you can still find ways to enjoy life nevertheless.**

 **Also yeah, the title of this chapter is shamelessly the name of Yumemi's theme.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and allowed.**


	26. Chimes of an Illusionary World

"Okay, here's everything from the Outside World that I still have in storage that should be to good use." Yumemi said, brushing the sweat off her forehead as she was tired from searching and collecting the Outside items that she believed that would amaze the magical residents of Gensokyo. Some of them were heavy, and there was a large number of them in general. And worst of all, Chiyuri did nothing to help her. The Gensokians looked at the pile of items in front of the redhead, the same Outsider gesturing towards the pile. "Just pick what you like and take it, I'm sure there is at least something in here that all of you will like, respectively."

The maidens looked at each other before looking back at the pile, picking up and looking at the items to see if there was anything that would tickle their fancy.

"Hmm, nothing here really looks all that interesting." Mima complained, the ghost seemingly lying on her front as she floated over the pile, using her telekinesis to pick up the items and throw them away when she found them uninteresting. Mima's eyes suddenly widened as she saw a book among the items, using her powers to float it up and hold it in her spectral hands. It was a novel, old and worn out from constant use. The only part of the novel's cover that interested her was that it was titled 'And Then There Were None', written by someone named 'Agatha Christie'. "I guess this will do, not that I had that many high expectations to begin with, especially after I found out about the truth of your identity. You're off the hook now, but don't think that you're completely safe yet."

"It's alright, I've already read that book multiple times." Yumemi responded.

"Ooooh~ It's the Magic Conch~!" Ellen said excitedly as she picked up a large seashell that was painted a light shade of pink long ago, something that Yumemi forgot about a long time; it is a mystery how she found it in the Probability Space Hypervessel. "With this omniscient item, I can finally remember everything that I ever forget, especially everything from years ago~."

" _How did that get in there? And how does she know what a 'Magic Conch' is?_ " Yumemi thought with a large bead of sweat falling down her temple, the professor proceeding to speak to the witch. "It's okay, you can take the... Magic Conch... Your own magic is very marvellous, so I am happy that you enjoy it."

Ellen looked at Yumemi excitedly, the hundreds of years old witch hugging the eighteen-year-old. "Thank you, blessed saint." Ellen said before she put the seashell in her hair and skipped out of the room, humming a tune.

"None of these items could go to answer my wish, though my wish has already been granted." Kana said, floating past over the heap of items. Keeping a bored expression, the poltergeist turned around as was floating away. "It just seems like after having an afterlife in the Outside World for so many years has left me- OOOOOOH, WHAT'S THAT~?! SO PRETTY~!"

Kana reached in the pile of items, pulling out a silver, fingerless glove decorated with blue rhinestones. It was the only one of its kind, Kana couldn't see any gloves like it among the pile (or any other gloves in general), but she didn't mind. It seemed to be a left-handed glove and was rather long. Kana slipped her fingers into the single glove, the entire thing reaching up to halfway of her forearm. Kana looked at the glove, blushing at the sight with sparkles in her eyes as she constantly turned her hand around to see it. It was blatantly obvious that she loved it.

"I'll take this, it's perfect." Kana said as she looked at Yumemi and Chiyuri, the blush and sparkles still decorating her ghostly face.

"You'll take... that?" Yumemi muttered as she pointed at the item being held by the poltergeist, the Outsider and her student dumbfounded by her choice item.

"But... won't it remain visible if you disappear...? Or fail to move through items with you?" Chiyuri asked, also pointing at Kana's new glove. "I don't think it is the best..."

Kana's new fingerless, rhinestone-covered glove was suddenly caught on blue flames as it remained where it was on her spectral body. Even as the blue flames remained where they were on the poltergeist, the burnt gloves feel down, onto the metal floor. The fires on Kana's hand and arm soon extinguished, revealing the same glove to be there in the same shape, even though it was simultaneously burnt and on the floor, utterly destroyed. Kana smiled at the now spectral (?) glove on her being, the poltergeist behind the odd phenomenon.

"There, now the problem is out of the way." Kana said as she put her hands behind her back, smiling at Yumemi and Chiyuri like the innocent little girl she had an appearance of, waving at them as her form had seemingly began to fade out of existence. "Goodbye~."

"Well... didn't know she could do that." Yumemi commented of the blue fire thing that Kana did, once again a bead of sweat falling down the side of her head. "Maybe I should write it down as a part of my research on all magical beings, and magic in general."

"Hey, aren't you going to get somethin'?" Chiyuri asked, looking at Kotohime as she just looked at the pile without even moving anything out of the way, almost looking confused as she just blinked with blank eyes.

"I don't know what I want." Kotohime answered, the princess honestly having no idea what she had wanted when she 'agreed' to participate in the fight in the Probability Space Hypervessel. "I thought that you would just give me a present that I would like, and that you would just automatically know what I like."

"Well I can't read minds." Yumemi responded, glowering at the princess. "Just pick something!"

"I dunno…" Kotohime responded, holding her head a she leaned it to the side.

Yumemi groaned in annoyance, the professor reaching into the pile herself, just reaching for something blindly and picking it out. The Outsider found something small, pulling it out with her hand closed around it. Yumemi opened her hand, revealing a diamond. It was fake, obviously, just by feeling it anyone could tell that it was plastic. Yumemi, still annoyed with the princess' lack of an idea, outstretched her hand towards Kotohime with the white piece of fake jewellery resting her palm.

"Here, take this." Yumemi said, grabbing one of Kotohime's hands and putting the fake diamond in it. "It's fake as crap, but you might like it."

Kotohime looked at the plastic item for a few moments before smiling, excitedly holding it in both hands as she looked at it like it was a shiny piece of gold that was worth an incomprehensible amount of money. "I don't care if it's fake, it's so pretty~." Kotohime said, sounding like a little girl with a new puppy with how grateful she sounded. "I'm going to keep it and add it to my box of personal special values."

"Excuse me," Rikako said from the side of Yumemi, the professor being momentarily startled by the self-proclaimed scientist's sudden appearance. The purple-haired woman quickly adjusted her glasses as Yumemi looked at her, trying to keep her impassive guise while nervous cracks broke through her mask. "I'm sorry, but none of these items seem to have anything to do with science. Please, tell me there is something that you have that could help me improve my knowledge of science even further."

"Uh... well, we have a few science books back in the Outside World." Yumemi responded, the Outsider not really sure if she should trust the knowledge of complicated science with someone of feudal dimension, especially a she didn't seem to have an exact comprehension of science itself. "They're kind of like grimoires, except they teach about science instead of magic."

"And their illustrations are a lot less interesting." Chiyuri commented.

"...I think that there may be a science book here somewhere." Yumemi said as she looked through her pile once again, it didn't help that she picked everything rather blindly. "Ah ha, here it is."

Yumemi pulled another book out of the pile of Outside World items, this one being a lot less old and worn out then the novel that Mima picked and is currently reading. Yumemi handed the book to Rikako, the magician-turned-scientist looking at the book, having a cover that included numbers and atoms. From what Rikako could infer from the book's cover, it taught about physics.

"This is one of those books of science I was talking about." Yumemi said as Rikako opened the book and began turning the pages of it quickly, her purple eyes lighting up in wonder to the many subjects within this book that she would be able to read. "Just read this and practise everything it teaches you about science and physics, and you should start coming close to becoming a real scientist."

"Oh thank you. Thank you so, so much." Rikako said to Yumemi, bowing down to the Outsider. "I will always treasure this and remember this experience. When I bring the name of science to Gensokyo and become a famous scientist, I will be sure to list you as one of my inspirations, and that it would have been impossible for me to reach my now inevitable status as a famous scientist if it weren't for you."

Rikako walked to Kotohime (who was still in the Probability Space Hypervessel, waiting for her 'friend'), the two women walking off outside the room.

Chiyuri turned towards Yumemi. "Did you just give her a basic book of physics for children?" The blonde asked the older Outsider.

"I can't trust her with the complicated science of our world." Yumemi responded, a bead of sweat dropping down the side of her head. "Not only does she not fully understand the subject, but in this feudal dimension she most likely would never ever live long enough to have the necessary technology."

"Fair point." Chiyuri responded.

"Hey!" Marisa yelled at the two Outsiders, causing them to look at her. "Do ya have anythin' that's actually interesting, like something from the Outsider World that makes everything go boom?"

"Umm, I think there's something like that." Yumemi said, the professor teleporting away. Yumemi was absent for a few seconds before she reappeared from the doorway on her and Chiyuri's side of the wall, followed by a green-haired maid with emotionless eyes, the same maid holding a large, white missile with black eyes, a red mouth and a red nosecone. Yumemi gestured her arms towards the heavy-looking missile being held by the expressionless maid. "This is a high-powered warhead from the Outside World. You just aim it at your target, and then let it shoot away at it with a big explosion. I call her Mimi-Chan. How's this?"

"Oh it's perfect~!" Marisa responded, grabbing the warhead from the emotionless maid, only for her to fall on her back as the weapon was too heavy for her. "Oh, it's perfect for me but it's too heavy to carry."

"Mimimi." Mimi-Chan 'said', the warhead wiggling in Marisa's arms. "Mimimimi mimi mimimimimimi mi mimimimimimimimimimi~!"

"Mimi-Chan says that she likes you." The maid said in the most emotionless voice that Marisa had ever heard from anyone. "She says that she is ready for when you use her, and that she'll go down gladly for you."

"Wait, you understand what that thing said?" Genji asked the maid.

"Of course I do, we're both sentient machinery beings." The maid responded in a deadpan voice.

"Huh?" Reimu, Marisa, Genji and Mima simultaneously responded.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that Ruukoto here in a nuclear-powered android maid?" Yumemi asked, the Outsider turning towards the maid and touching her face. Yumemi took off Ruukoto's face, revealing a metal skull underneath with the emotionless eyes still attached to it. "See? She's really a robot that looks like a human."

"That's freaky!" Reimu, Marisa, Genji and Mima said simultaneously once again, this time more disturbed.

"Say, what does she do?" Reimu asked, the shrine maiden trainee recovering much more quickly than the other three (that is instantaneously) as Yumemi put Ruukoto's face back on.

"Like I said, Ruukoto here is a nuclear-powered android maid." Yumemi explained. "Her primary function is meant to be that of cleaning up all the messes, but she doesn't do it well."

"Did you just say that she cleans?" Reimu asked, the trainee coming uncomfortably close to Yumemi's face as her purple eyes shined.

"Umm, yeah." Yumemi responded. "But like I said, she's not-."

"It is a hard and tedious job cleaning up the shrine. I have to do it everyday, and sometimes even more than once." Reimu interrupted, the trainee making a sad puppy face in the hopes that her charms as a little girl will make Yumemi feel sympathetic and hand Ruukoto over to her. "I know this may be a lot to ask of you, but I really could use a maid like her. Is it okay if I take her?"

"I already told you, she's not that good at-." Yumemi said, though she was stopped once again, this time by Chiyuri as the teenager put her hand over the other teenager's mouth.

"Just give it up, Yumi. She's not gonna listen to anything outside of Ruukoto being a maid that can clean." The blonde said to the professor, moving herself in between her and Reimu. "Sure, kid, you can have Ruukoto. Nuclear-powered android maids and nuclear-powered android butlers are a common and popular thing in the Outside World. Course they're not anatomically correct; don't want any perverts to use them for their freaky ideas."

"Yay~!" Reimu responded, ignoring everything Chiyuri said after she allowed Reimu to take Ruukoto as her maid. The shrine maiden trainee wrapped her arms around one of Ruukoto's, the child humming happily before she realised something, the trainee soon looking at the android. "Wait, what do you eat? And where do you sleep?"

"I am an android, thus I am a robot; I do not need to eat, drink or sleep." Ruukoto responded, still keeping an impassive expression and monotone voice, the android maid walking along with the shrine maiden trainee willingly. Genji sighed, the turtle flowing after his master and the new maid.

"Wow, I wish I wasn't dependant on eating, drinking or sleeping~." Reimu said as she and Ruukoto left the room, Genji following after them.

"Well, got nothin' to do here." Marisa said as she placed Mimi-Chan on the ground, the magician protégé sitting on top of the warhead with her broomstick in hand. "C'mon, Mimi-Chan, lets get out of here."

"Mimimimimimimimimimimimi~!" Mimi-Chan responded, the warhead suddenly floating up in the air before rocketing out of the room (and the Probability Space Hypervessel) with Marisa riding her.

The only magical being left in the building was Mima, the ghost shrugging at the two Outsiders without saying a word, teleporting away with her novel still in hand.

"Well... guess it's time for us to leave. We have nothing else to do with the needed amount of data on magic." Yumemi said as she walked through the doorway on her and Chiyuri's side of the room, towards the room where the controls for the Hypervessel is located, along with the extra computer that keeps the data of magic as a backup. "C'mon, Chiyuri. Time to show all our research to the Committee of Science and change the name of science forever; become legendary names in science for this contribution."

* * *

Reimu was enjoying green tea, swinging her legs from where she sat on the porch of the shrine. In front of Reimu, Ruukoto was sweeping the leaves that had fallen down on the shrine grounds. It had been a week since Yumemi and Chiyuri came to Gensokyo with the Hyperspace Visual or whatever it was called, and throughout those days Ruukoto was keeping her emotionless face, day and night, she never changed her expression for even a second, she didn't even show any negative emotions, like hatred or sadness. Well she didn't ever complain, and whenever Reimu asked the android how she was feeling, she would always respond with 'Whatever Lady Reimu wants me to feel', so the shrine maiden trainee liked to believe that Ruukoto was secretly enjoying her time.

"Lady Reimu, I don't like that you are relying on her to clean the shrine." Genji said as he appeared at the shrine's porch from the pond. "It's not that I have any problems with her, but I don't want you to be lazy."

"You need to calm down sometimes, Master." Sin said as she appeared beside Reimu, the Hakurei spirit sitting on the porch with the shrine maiden trainee, leaning back with her hands supporting her. "It's nice to enjoy some time to relax."

"Hmm, odd. You're not usually outside of the Yin-Yang Orb, especially without your brother, Sin." Genji said, seemingly not taking notice of anything that the red-haired priestess said.

"I just needed some time to stretch my dead limbs." Sin responded, the spirit soon disappearing as she returned to the sacred relic.

"Well, she wasn't out for long." Genji commented, the turtle crawling up the steps and sitting on the porch with Reimu. "But it's true, Lady Reimu. If you keep on letting that robot do all of your chores for you, you'll become lazy. And if you become lazy, it will be much harder for you to protect Gensokyo."

"Don't worry, Gramps, I won't be lazy~." Reimu responded casually, sipping from her green tea once again. "Besides, I'll always protect Gensokyo."

Genji made a grumbling sound as he looked at Reimu. "Still, I think you should be the one to sweep the leaves tomorrow." Genji said as he looked back at Ruukoto, the green-haired maid sweeping the leaves into a pile with rather little effort. "With how important you are to the safety of Gensokyo and its entire existence, we cannot having any risks of you becoming lazy; because if you start becoming lazy then you'll no doubt loose some of the power you acquired during your still present training, making it easier for evil demons and youkai that are planning on killing you to gain the power to control the Yin-Yang Orbs."

"Yo, Eggplant!" Marisa called from the distance. Reimu and Genji looked at the torii gate, where they heard Marisa's voice from, though it sounded like she was a far distance from the shrine. The two could see a little spec in the distance, the spec growing bigger as it was Marisa flying closer to them. It seemed like the magician protégé was flying forward without proper control. Reimu and Genji braced for impact, fearing that Marisa was going to crash into them.

Ruukoto suddenly appeared in front of the two, and even though she was facing away from them, Reimu could tell that the maid had her arms outstretched towards the oncoming protégé.

Marisa suddenly stopped to a halt in front of the android maid, a smirk on her face. Ruukoto lowered her arms and walked back to the broom that she was sweeping with, continuing her work, even though the leaves had mysteriously scattered about once again.

Marisa laughed at Reimu and Genji, the two looking at her dumbfounded as they were still hugging each other, an impulse that they did because they thought Marisa was going to fly into them. "Really scared both of ya there, didn't I?" Marisa said, the blonde still laughing at the two as she kept pointing at them. "Did you really think that I would suddenly lose control of my broom? I've been ridin' this thing at high-speeds for a long time now, I can always keep control of where I'm going, even when I'm moving so fast that everything else is a blur."

"Real funny, Marisa." Reimu responded sarcastically to her friend, a frown on her peach skin before her expression returned to normal. "By the way, I noticed that you're no longer riding Mimi-Chan."

"Yeah, 'bout that. Turns out that even though I'm a pro at riding a flying broomstick, I really suck at riding a flying warhead." Marisa responded, looking away and rubbing the back of her head as she wasn't happy about admitting to something she wasn't good at. "Mimi-Chan is still alright, but damn the number of times I nearly crashed her. If I had ten yen for every time that I nearly crashed and cause an explosion with Mimi-Chan, I would have enough money that not even you would be poor anymore. Even though I like not having to use magic power to fly her, Mimi-Chan is always just too fast for me and I can barely steer her. Right now I'm just keepin' her under my bed, 'cause I couldn't bare to blow up my precious Mimi-Chan. She's like my own baby."

"Uh-huh." Reimu responded.

"Oh my, you're causing quite a ruckus," Kana said as her spectral form faded into a existence, the poltergeist sitting on the edge of the shrine's roof, swinging her legs. "It's even enough to wake the dead~ If you anger a poltergeist, especially one like me, you might end up being haunted~ And we poltergeists aren't like the regular ghosts, we're okay with getting a little violent~."

"Eh, doesn't matter." Marisa shrugged, the magician protégé soon smirking at Kana. "If a poltergeist tries to haunt me, I'll just blast 'em away, like I do with the youkai that try to eat me."

"Attagirl, Marisa." Mima said pridefully as she appeared in front of the shrine, beside Marisa, the ghost startling her protégé. "Like I always say, violence and torture are the perfect way to deal with your problems."

"I'm all for violence but I'm not so sure about the torture part." Marisa responded, sweat-dropping at her teacher.

"Violins and trumpet are my favourite instruments~." Ellen said, the witch suddenly behind Marisa and Mima, her eyes closed as she was smiling happily with her hands behind her back. Ellen had of course surprised Marisa and Mima, even though they were certain that she wasn't behind them. Ellen suddenly looked confused, blinking. "What was I doing here again?"

"I dunno, you just appeared behind us out of nowhere." Marisa responded, the protégé suddenly noticing that Ellen was missing something. "Hey, what happened to your cat?"

"Oh, he's currently managing my shop: Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop." Ellen responded like it was simple knowledge. "Sokrates is much better at managing the store than I am. Fuwa~!"

"Oh... well that's interesting information." Reimu responded, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her head from the weird witch's weirder response. "What are doing here, again?"

"I forgot. I think I came here to tell you something important, but my fragmented memories always betray me." Ellen responded. The blonde witch reached into her hair, pulling out the conch shell that she got from Yumemi that week ago. Ellen put her ear against the conch, thinking that it will answer her questions. "Oh great magic conch of mystery, may your knowledge that transcends even that of the gods help me understand this incident I'm in. Tell me, why did I come here again?"

Ellen just stood still, seemingly listening to the conch, though it was doubtful that it would ever say anything to her. Kotohime and Rikako suddenly appeared at the torii gate, the two approaching the shrine that the shrine maiden trainee and the other magical beings were.

"Hello everyone, what an amazing day we are having." Kotohime said, smiling happily as she spoke casually, like they all were life-long friends. "Aren't we having such a lovely day? I love this perfect combination of sun and cloud~."

"Hmm, well you sure are in a good mood." Kana said, still sitting next to Reimu. The poltergeist then noticed that Rikako was also looking rather happy. "Oh my, look at that, Rikako is smiling, IT MUST BE THE END OF THE UNIVERSE AS WE KNOW IT!"

Everyone else present (with the obvious exception of Rikako and Ellen) suddenly started to laugh at Kana's joke. Even Genji had tried to stop himself, but it soon appeared that he wasn't strong enough to fend off his humorous side. Rikako immediately frowned, the self-proclaimed scientist quickly understand the joke and _not_ finding it funny.

"I _can_ smile you know. It's not like my smile spells the end of the world." Rikako responded, glowering at Kana. "And the reason that I'm so happy is that I'm making milestones in science. I can only thank Yumemi, the blessed angel of science that came to me to give me her holy knowledge. I have even converted multiple fellow Gensokians to the one true faith: science."

"I don't think science is a faith." Genji responded, a bead of sweat falling down the side of his rough, grey head.

There was suddenly a sound of time-space being bent, the sound coming from above the shrine. Everyone (once again, except for Ellen) looked at where the sound was coming. A hole then appeared in the sky above the Hakurei shrine, the hole growing tremendously large as it showed a purple space. A metal temple, one made to look like a Roman one, floated through the hole in space-time. It floated above the Hakurei shrine, the portal that it entered through closing completely. The temple was a familiar sigh; it was the Probability Space Hypervessel.

The Probability Space Hypervessel lowered to the ground, landing to the side of the Hakurei shrine, pointing towards the pile of magical maidens that were already there. Everyone looked at the Hypervessel (once again, except for Ellen, who was still 'listening' to the conch), the front door opening, showing a hallway that was so dark that it was completely impossible to see anything within it, even with the sun shining above.

"Wah!" Yumemi cried as she ran out of the Hypervessel, the crying professor hugging Reimu. "The committee not only hated and didn't accept my theory of magic, but they banned me from being able to due anything else related to science!"

Chiyuri laughed nervously as she walked out of the Hypervessel, the blonde student rubbing her neck. "Yep... Seems like we'll be here for a while."

* * *

It had been a few minutes since the Hypervessel reappeared in Gensokyo. Yumemi had finally calmed down as she was sipping on something from the Outside World called 'Strawberry Milkshake' while Chiyuri was drinking a brown liquid with bubbles through a see-through bottle, the Outsider sitting on the shrine porch. Since they were already at the Hakurei shrine, everyone involved in the incident that happened a week ago (dubbed by Reimu as the 'Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dream' incident) were still there, waiting for Yumemi to finish her crying and explain why she and Chiyuri returned.

And Ellen was still standing there and waiting for the conch to respond, absolutely oblivious to everything around her.

"I presented everything to the committee; all of my written down data, photographic evidence, videos of everything that happened, etc." Yumemi explained, her eyes tearing up again. Rikako, still looking up to Yumemi, handed the crying Outsider one of her handkerchiefs, the redhead taking it and wiping her eyes with the piece of cloth. "Then they have the _gall_ to dismiss it all as fake and even told me that they think I changed the photos with photoshop and that all of the video evidence is just staged with digital evidence. So now Chiyuri and I are banned from ever making anymore contributions to science."

"Well, it could be worse." Chiyuri mentioned as Yumemi started to wail again; keening the death of her ever becoming a world renowned scientist. "They didn't ban us from the Outside World in general; we can always travel between Gensokyo and the Outside World with the Probability Space Hypervessel, we'll just be given endless scorn by virtually everyone around us."

"Ayayayayayayayaya, what a scoop~!" A female voice said, followed by a snapping sound. Everyone looked to the source of the voice and sound, seeing a tengu standing on top of the torii gate. She had a humanoid form, with red eyes and semi-long black hair. She was wearing white blouse with a short black skirt, also wearing a red tokin headwear on her head. She was holding a box of some sorts that she kept putting in front of her eyes and making the clicking noise with, the tengu also holding a large tengu fan that looked like an autumn leaf. The tengu also had a regular crow flapping next to her. The tengu girl began to write something down in a notebook of hers, a large grin on her face. "This is amazing~ 'Local Shrine Maiden Teams up with Mima the Malicious and Outside World Humans. Could She Be Planning Domination of Gensokyo?' This will be one of the greatest reports of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, written by its greatest reporter: Aya Shameimaru~!"

 **Dishonest Reporter of Fantasy**

 **Aya Shameimaru**

Everyone (except for you-know-who because of you-know-what-reason) looked at Aya silently, the tengu remaining on top of the gate as she continued to write down on her notepad, her hand writing at a speed that was so tremendous that it looked like a blur.

"What the...?" Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee pointing at the random tengu. "Just who are you?!"

Aya suddenly stopped writing, the tengu looking at Reimu with a blank face. The red-eyed youkai suddenly grinned at the trainee, though she kept her place on top of the torii. "I am Aya Shameimaru: The fastest in Gensokyo and the greatest reporter of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper: the legendary newspaper business of Gensokyo." Aya introduced herself... for the second time. "I seek to tell the truth and nothing other than the truth. Try whatever you might, but this great and humble reporter will not stop until she reveals the truth."

There was a certain silence in the air, allowing everyone to take in the ambience of Gensokyo.

...Then Rikako suddenly burst into a laughing fit.

"Yeah right, the Bunbunmaru Newspaper is barely a reliable source." Rikako said as she laid on the ground, her feet swing up and down as she could barely control herself, the scientist keeping her hands on her stomach as it was hurting from how hard she was laughing. Aya's body suddenly lunged forward as she was incredulous, the tengu almost falling off the torii if it wasn't for that one foot that kept balance. Rikako made deep breaths as she calmed down, the magician-turned-scientist getting off the ground and rubbing the dirt off of her. "Everyone knows that the Bunbunmaru Newspaper is just a joke: it's just a bunch of tengu making up stories that they sell to humans and youkai alike. Its only value is for pure laughs."

Aya stiffened. "How dare you say that." The youkai said angrily as she pointed her fan towards Rikako. "You arrogant and empty-headed human! The Bunbunmaru Newspaper is a deep and honest service run by humble tengu that just want to help others. We spot and write down everything that happens, then we interview anyone involved, and then we deliver the news around Gensokyo so everyone can know not only the truth, but what is going on in our land. That is the glory of the noble and great tengu race."

"Literally everyone that I know, human and youkai alike, see the Bunbunmaru Newspaper as nothing more than something to laugh at." Rikako said. This time Aya _did_ fall off the torii, landing right on her face. Luckily, as a youkai, that was more akin to being slapped by a baby. But still...

"You foul and black-hearted monster!" Aya yelled with tears in her eyes as she pointed at Rikako, the tengu having got back onto her feet in an instant, turning around as she was about to fly away. "Just you wait, I'll put it in the next newspaper. Everyone will know just how evil and of a monster you are, just you waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiit…!"

"She doesn't even know my name." Rikako commented.

There was suddenly the sound of frantic huffing coming from the stair that led to the shrine, the maidens still looking at the torii gate as someone appeared. It was Rika, the engineer in the same cloths she was wearing when she first attacked Reimu and Genji the Flower-Tank. Rika finally reached the top of the shrine, the exhausted maiden leaning again the torii gate as she took deep, hoarse breaths, sweating as she had exerted all her energy.

"Oh gods... I really... I really need to work out more...!" Rika said between gasps, the engineer soon being able to stand on her two feet again and breath normally. Rika then looked up, her brown eyes zooming in on and glaring at her purple-haired rival. "Rikako!"

"Rika!" Rikako yelled back at the engineer. The glares being sent between the two women were fierce, it even looked like they were both shooting lightning out of their eyes.

"Rikako!" Rika yelled again, walking towards the self-proclaimed scientist.

"Rika!" Rikako yelled, the scientist copying the action of the engineer.

"Rikako!" Rika growled as she slammed her forehead against the taller woman's forehead, the two pressing their foreheads against each others as they continued to glare at each other with bared teeth.

"Rika!"

"Rikako!"

"Rika!"

"Rikako!"

"Ri-!"

"That's enough of that." Kana interrupted in a calm voice as she slammed a stop sign right down on Rikako's head, the magician-turned-scientist knocked out unconscious on the ground with a large lump on her head, tiny little birds flying around the head lump, chirping. "That was starting to get annoying. So, why are you here, Miss 'Rika'?"

"Oh!" Rika said as she remembered the reason why she ran to the Hakurei shrine, the brown-haired maiden running around Kana and towards Yumemi (whom was watching the ordeal that Rikako was having with Aya and Rika respectively). Rika went to a complete stop as she was in front of the dimension-hopping teenager, bowing down respectfully towards. "I wish to work with you again. I have never been able to make anything that can hold a candle to the Evil Eye Sigma since we stopped working together and you left. If it is okay, I wish to begin working on new revolutionary tanks and inventions, with the help of you and your advanced technology."

"Oh, wonderful~!" Yumemi said cheerfully, the girl looking like she had completely gotten over her sadness from earlier ago, causing everyone that saw what a crying mess she was to look at her incredulously. "It's nice to know that here I can still make contributions to science, in a form. After all, the Committee of Science doesn't believe that Gensokyo is real, so they can't tell me that I'm not allowed to do anything science related here~ But wait, there is nowhere for me to really set up my base. Throughout my days of collecting magic data, I've just been making the Hypervessel fly around."

"Oh, if you wish to continue on with science in Gensokyo, you could just go to the Kappa Village. The kappa are very passionate about science, so they would be more than willing to help you in your pursuit of science." Genji said, causing everyone to look at him.

"Wait, there are other Gensokians that are passionate about science?!" Rikako asked as she raised quickly raised to the ground, the disappearing but still large lump on her head remaining there. "Why was I not told about that when you first met me?!"

"There was a giant and mysterious object flying above the shrine, I was in work mode. When I'm in work mode, my top priorities are always in protecting Lady Reimu and Gensokyo. When I'm not in work mode, that's when I talk about things like that. Besides, as a native Gensokian shouldn't you be aware of the kappa and their village?" Genji said, the turtle-like entity walking towards the torii gate, stretching his neck out so his head was pointing towards mountains in the distance. "You see those mountains over there? That's Youkai Mountain. Somewhere along the base, there is a village that is more advanced than the rest of Gensokyo. That is the Kappa Village. As you can infer, most of the residents of the village are kappa. The kappa are, as I said, passionate about science, but they are also a lot more friendly towards humans than most youkai. Though, it is best to bring some cucumbers with you, lest you wish for them to take your shirikodama."

"Oh marvellous~!" Yumemi said, slapping her hands against each other with stars in her eyes, a wide smile across her face. "We packed plenty of cucumbers before we came back here, so we should be able to get the trust of the kappa~ What do you think, Chiyuri?"

"Eh, beats laying around doing nothin' and letting this big brain of mine go to waste." Chiyuri responded, shrugging.

"I'm going to." Rika said, the engineer looking determined. "I cannot waste any opportunity that allows me to make more tanks and inventions. I won't let anything stop me from my ambition: becoming the Queen of the Monsters~!"

"I will also go! The pursuit of science is an ambition that never ends, one that rewards you with knowledge that can help you change the world around you!" Rikako said. The two Outsiders and two rivals (whom were glaring at each other again) entered the Probability Space Hypervessel, the aforementioned dimension-hopping ship floating off the ground before flying towards the Youkai Mountain, where hopefully the ones flying and riding the ruin-like ship will get to the Kappa Village and go on friendly terms with the youkai of the village.

"Did you notice that Rika was right in front of us and none of us said a thing?" Marisa asked Mima.

"It doesn't matter." The green-haired ghost responded. "We didn't really care about her and that feeling was mutual. Frankly, I would be more surprised if she did say something to us."

"Yeah... Well she could have at least noticed that I am now using my real hair." Marisa said, the blonde magician moving a fringe that kept covering one of her eyes.

"So what are you going to do now?" Reimu asked Kotohime, the vermillion-haired princess having watched everything with her usual calm smile.

"Oh, I should probably return to the castle." Kotohime responded in a carefree voice, the woman summoning her pink cloud. Kotohime stepped on the cloud, the conjured item floating her up in the air. "After all, I'm meant to be grounded, but I snuck out of my room and went here. Maybe I can be freed from being grounded further if I sneak back in before anyone notices that I'm gone. Bye-bye."

Kotohime flew away, the somewhat crazy princess disappearing rather quickly.

"Fuwa~!" Ellen said as she suddenly remembered the reason why she came to the Hakurei shrine, the witch having been completely unaware of everything that had happened when she was busy 'listening' to the so-called Magic Conch. Ellen turned back towards Reimu, the realisation still in her head. "I remember now. I came here because I like you, so I decided to tell you about my Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop, and that you are not only always allowed to visit, but you can always get a discount on everything that you buy."

"Oh... well that's generous." Reimu said.

"And I was hopping that you would allow me to move my magic shop to the shrine ground~." Ellen said.

"...No." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden trainee preferring to not have a witch's magic shop opened near her shrine. She already barely has any visitors and donators as it is, having a magic shop run by a witch would cause her to somehow have even less, especially if they are aware that she allowed the witch to open shop there. It didn't matter if Reimu did also like Ellen and was certain that the witch was kind and friendly, the normal humans in the village would never see a witch as anything more than a malicious, magic-using woman that would kidnap and eat kids and cats.

"Okay." Ellen responded, not at all hurt by Reimu's blunt answer. There was suddenly a meow, Ellen, Reimu, Genji, Marisa, Mima and Kana looked at the source, seeing Sokrates walking towards his witch master. Ellen smiled at the white-furred cat, picking him up and cradling him in her arms. "Oh Sokrates, was I gone for too long~? Sorry, I forgot again until the Magic Conch reminded me. Come on, let's return to the magic shop."

"Wow, is that cat really looking after the witch?" Marisa jested, smirking as Ellen was walking away, Sokrates sitting on her head.

"Well someone has to look after her." Sokrates said. Everyone, except for Ellen (whom had either not noticed or was simply jaded to the cat talking), looked at the cat dumbfounded. It was definitely the voice of a male, and it definitely came from the cat. Sokrates, having a more smiley face then his usual bored expression, waved his paw at the nonplussed watchers as Ellen disappeared as she walked down the shrine steps.

"Did... did that cat really just talk?" Kana asked, still too nonplussed to do anything.

"...Why are we so surprised by it?" Mima responded, somewhat aware of how weird it is that she and the others don't really know how to react to Sokrates speaking.

* * *

Somewhere in Gensokyo, on the opposite side of one of the mountains, not too far from the Human Village, there is a large field of sunflowers, home to many fairies and youkai. This area is known as The Garden of the Sun, a place in Gensokyo that had appeared mysteriously on one night. The most peculiar thing about the Garden of the Sun was that there was absolutely no indication of there ever being flowers there before. Just a barren piece of land in Gensokyo in one second, a giant field of sunflowers in the next.

Most residents, human and youkai, shrugged off the phenomenon. Since Gensokyo is a strange place, where weird things happen all the time, they just believed that it natural Gensokyo phenomena.

Thus, the Garden of the Sun was a popular visiting site for humans and youkai alike.

But what wasn't known about this spot in Gensokyo was that, deep within this garden of flowers, there was a lake of pure, thick, crimson read blood with multiple large rocks that stuck out of it, uncreatively named The Lake of Blood. At the end of The Lake of Blood, still deep within The Garden of the Sun, there was a large, pink mansion, far larger on the inside than the outside (like in the Probability Space Hypervessel), home to an old and powerful, yet also infamous youkai. The mansion was surrounded by another garden, many different flowers of different shapes and colours looking fresh and well-kept sitting there, with a pathway that was a blue and white checkerboard tile pathway.

This specific mansion is named Mugenkan.

Within Mugenkan was more checkerboard tiles on the ground, many pots of different shapes and sizes on shelves and tables, filled with flowers that are native to the Outside World, Gensokyo and many other different planets and dimensions respectively.

Two females were walking through the mansion, two non-humans that are both friends and workers of the owner and creator of the mansion. On was a short, bat youkai, often misunderstood by those around her that she is either a little girl and/or a vampire (something which is to her never-ending ire). She had long, blonde hair and golden eyes, wearing a white shirt with red suspenders and a black skirt and had a red bow over her chest and a white bow in her hair. She also had big, purple wings on her back and long fangs; the bat youkai part of her that cause people to believe she is a vampire. Her name is Kurumi, and her main job is guarding The Lake of Blood.

The other girl is a shinigami - a grim reaper. She too had blonde hair (albeit short with curls) and golden eyes, a pink hat with a red ribbon sitting on top of her head. She was wearing a dark red and pink dress, having a body more like that of a teenager, with a noticeable bust sticking out on her chest, despite her modest dress. As a shinigami, she had a scythe that she carried with herself everywhere. Unlike most shinigami's scythes, hers was curved at and angle. Not that she minded in any way, it helped her with using the scythe as a boomerang. Her name is Elly, and her job is to protect and look after Mugenkan, sort of like a chief maid.

Despite their appearances, they were both at least a few hundred years old.

Kurumi and Elly were happily chatting about things, their casual conversation having things that would be considered macabre and horrifying to the regular human. But to the youkai and literal reaper of life, this were things that you talk about casually, like the weather or new clothes.

A door at the end of the hallway opened up, revealing a green-haired youkai. She had the appearance of a girl in her late teens/early twenties, even though she has lived for thousands and thousands of years, and is actually an infamous of ancient times. Her green hair was long, with a bang covering on of her red eyes, wearing a light pink nightcap and pyjamas. Both the nightcap and pyjamas were decorated with golden stars. She yawned, having just recently woken up from a really long nap.

"Oh, Yuuka, you're awake." Kurumi and Elly said to the green-haired youkai, giving her a curtsy.

Yuuka blinked tiredly at the two other non-humans for a short while as her mind was still waking up, her red eyes widening a smile appearing her face as she woke up completely. "Kurumi~ Elly~ How are you two doing on this fine day~?" Yuuka asked happily, the youkai remaining in her pyjamas, even though she could easily change her clothes in an instant with her magic.

"Everything is fine, My Lady." Kurumi responded, keeping a smile on her face as she gave a salute to her mistress, acting like a little kid that was playing a game and not even taking it seriously.

"Not a single person, human or youkai, has ever tried to enter Mugenkan without being asked or invited." Elly continued, also saluting with the exact amount of seriousness as her bat co-worker/friend.

"Good, good. Very good." Yuuka said, clapping her hand together and smiling. The youkai soon opened her eyes. "By the way, I have recently brainstormed a good, little game to spend my free time with."

Kurumi and Elly suddenly lost their happy and casual demeanour, knowing that Yuuka's 'games' were less fun and more chaotic and painful and dangerous. Even though it was enough to keep their somewhat crazy master/friend entertained, they usually didn't like what would happen as a result because of her 'games'.

"You know that shrine maiden trainee that news has been spread about?" Yuuka asked. Kurumi and Elly knew exactly who Yuuka was talking about, the two nodding. "Well I'm going to send her an invitation to play with me, and if she brings a friend with her, then the more the merrier~."

Yuuka began to walk again, most likely to the main room where she'll no doubt want her tea. Elly and Kurumi followed after her, wanting to know the most about her 'game' so they can lessen the damage and pain they'll no doubt get in.

"And when will you send the new Hakurei shrine maiden trainee your... 'invitation'?" Elly asked.

"When I feel like it~." Yuuka responded, the ancient youkai entering the main room and sitting down at her circular table with a checkerboard surface. "Tea, please."

Kurumi and Elly sighed, the two unanimously and silently agreeing that they'll just have to be on their greatest guard for when the trainee inevitably come over because if Yuuka's 'invitation'.

* * *

 **Well this chapter is a little longer than usual, mostly because I wrote a lot for the conclusion to Phantasmagoria of Dim Dream, mostly based on the official ending of the game, including the final ending where Yumemi and Chiyuri return and live in Gensokyo because they were kicked out.**

 **So, at least in Maiden's Capriccio cannon, the two Outsiders (along with Rika and Rikako) are now living in the Kappa Village. Because of their high knowledge of science and advanced technology (and a ton of cucumbers that they have) Yumemi and Chiyuri have became very popular and well loved among the human-loving kappa. Yumemi is now an important figure in the Kappa Village, and in the Gensokyo community of science. Chiyuri is now Yumemi's assistant, with Rika and Rikako being her new students (which has only made their rivalry worse).**

 **Everyone else involved in the incident is continuing their lives rather normally, though Reimu now has a nuclear-powered android maid and a poltergeist haunting her shrine. Kana's glove was something that I think I thought up out of the blue, so now you have to imagine her with it if she ever returns in the story. Marisa now has Mimi-Chan, but she's mostly keeping the warhead under her bed because she has trouble controlling it. The protégé** **has also grown attached to the warhead.**

 **Also I decided to have Mima get And Then There Were None as her 'gift' because it was referenced in one of Flandre Scarlet's spellcards. I haven't read the novel at the time that I am writing this, so don't expect any further references.**

 **As for the Lotus Land Story crew, or at least the main three ones presented in this chapter.**

 **Kurumi is bat youkai with the body of a young girl, which causes her to constantly be misunderstood as a vampire and/or a little girl. As written in her introduction, this is her Berserk Button. It is unknown how, why or when she started working for Yuuka, but she is on incredibly friendly terms with the two. She mostly guards The Lake of Blood, which she sometimes drink from the gain nourishment, as even though she is not a vampire, she still needs to drink blood as she is still a bat. Yuuka and Elly are well aware of this, but they are okay with it.**

 **Elly is a shinigami that used to work for the Ministry of Right and Wrong, but because of an incident where Yuuka had unknowingly saved her from being erased from existence, she had indebted herself to Yuuka. The two have became very close to each other, and Elly has been the only one working for the infamous youkai for a few hundred years before Kurumi began to also work for the flower youkai.**

 **As for Yuuka herself, she is like Mima, in which is an extremely powerful magical being that has gained great infamy because of things she did in ancient times. However, unlike Mima, Yuuka is far more infamous, to the point where she was given the moniker 'Ultimate Sadist Creature', a title which she has been more know by than her real name. Yuuka has long calmed down since those ancient times and simply wishes to live a 'quiet and peaceful' life. However, ever though she loves flowers of all kinds and enjoys her more peaceful life, she also likes to engage in battles and cause chaos, which she refers to as her 'games'. Even though she is now a kind youkai, she still likes to tease and scare others, whenever they be human, youkai or animal. Also, even though she wishes to longer be known as the Ultimate Sadist Creature, she doesn't really mind when people call her that, at least those that she isn't friends with.**

 **Even as a youkai, she can be rather difficult to understand.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	27. A Lotus Dream

Reimu was sweeping up the leaves that were littered around the shrine and the grounds surrounding the shrine, the shrine maiden trainee humming a happy tune to herself as she was enjoying the day. The reason (or at least the main one) why Reimu is so happy because earlier this morning, when she first woke up, she checked the donation box to see that someone had donated when she was asleep. And not only was it a donation, but it was a massive donation.

"Donations for me~ Donations for me~ I'm going to the village later shopping with the donations for me~." Reimu said in a sing-song voice a she swept away the leaves.

"You're in a happy mood." Mima observed, the ghost sitting on the shrine's roof. The ghost seemed to hang out at the shrine a lot, for some reason. There wasn't a single day where either Reimu or Genji noticed the ghost hanging around the holy building for at least an hour or so. She was sometimes around the shrine more than even Marisa, who also liked to visit on a daily basis, for some reason. Genji was suspicious of them, considering their past actions, but Reimu was happy and excepting of it. Mima floated off the roof, floating over the humming shrine maiden trainee. "What's got you all up in the sunshine?"

"Donations~." Reimu responded casually. "A saint visited the shrine in the middle of the night and gave me a massive donation. There is so much money in the box."

Mima looked at Reimu with a raised eyebrow of wariness, the ghost floating towards the donation box, removing the lid to see that it was full (to an extent) of paper yen. Mima was dubious, after all it would be easy to curse the yen or douse them with poison to kill the shrine maiden trainee. Mima should know, that was how she managed to kill a trainee in the past (though she had two other sisters that were alive, so it was basically pointless).

Mima grabbed hold of one of the yen, the magician spirit closing her eyes as she focussed her magical senses on the paper in her hand, trying to sense any poison, hexes or magical energy that could have been caused by someone trying to kill Reimu.

Mima found a magical energy, ancient and powerful one. The ghost opened her eyes, dropping the yen back in the donation box. She may have tried to kill Reimu at least twice in the past, but the trainee had a special ability to make those around her care for her.

"Well, at least I can confirm that the gap youkai does indeed donate to the shrine." Mima mumbled, the ghost floating back up to the shrine roof.

Reimu had finished sweeping all of the leaves back into a complete pile, the happy maiden putting the broom away and sitting back on the shrine porch, making a content sigh as she leaned back. There was a pleasant breeze in the air, the sound of something approaching by flight could be heard. Reimu opened an eye, seeing Marisa appear on her flying broomstick.

"What's up, Shorty?" Marisa jested as she landed the broomstick in front of the shrine, the protégé joining Reimu on the porch.

"We're the same height. In fact I'm a little taller than you." Reimu responded, giving Marisa a glare, though that had only made Marisa snicker. Reimu calmed down, once again smiling like she didn't have a care in the world. "Whatever, I'll let it pass. Today I got a lot of donations, so I'm in quite a happy mood today~."

"Oh really?" Marisa asked with interest. The magician walked to the donation box, opening the lid to see all of the notes within the box. Marisa's grin widened even further, a thieving glint in her eyes, the blonde reaching into the box and taking out the notes, putting them in magical pockets she put in her skirt so it would be easier to steal things. "I think it's good for me to be paid my tax for helping you with protecting Gensokyo~!"

Marisa was suddenly hit in the side of the head with something hard and wooden, the magical maiden slamming against the shrine porch from the hit. Marisa rubbed the side of her head as it throbbed slightly, the blonde glaring up at Reimu (as she was no doubt the one that hit her), only for her to become scared as she was overcame with a sensation of fear as Reimu glared down at her with a demonic aura. "You have yet to show yourself protecting Gensokyo." Reimu said, her voice sounding threatening and demonic to Marisa as the blonde was still being overcame by the sensation of fear. "Give me back the donations or else...!"

"Calm down, Lady Reimu." Genji said calmly as he approached the shrine. The appearance of the ancient entity managed to work well, as the demonic aura surrounding Reimu began to vanish. "Marisa, return the donations to Lady Reimu as she is the one that earned them, also apologise to her. Lady Reimu, apologise to Marisa for hitting her on the side of the head."

"What?" Marisa said.

Reimu was suddenly sitting on her knees, her hands on her knees as she was bowing down towards Marisa. "I apologise, Marisa." Reimu said calmly, her head still bowed as she kept her eyes closed. "I hope you forgive me for this, and I hope we can remain friends."

Marisa was quiet, the magician looking at her mentor. "Mimaaaaaaaaa…!" Marisa whined.

"His shrine, his rules." Mima responded simply, the ghost pointing at Genji.

Marisa sighed, the protégé also sitting down on her knees, her hands on her knees with her eyes closed as she bowed down to Reimu, though while Reimu kept a calm face, Marisa had a rather annoyed expression. "Fine, whatever. I'm sorry for takin' a bit of your money and all that crap. We good now?" Marisa said to Reimu in an annoyed voice.

"Aaaaaaaaaaand?" Mima said, hovering over her student with her arms crossed, a bored expression on her face.

"Jeez, you were much more fun when you were evil." Marisa grumbled, reaching into the pockets in her skirt and taking out all the yen she took from Reimu's donation box, dropping them in front of the aforementioned shrine maiden trainee. "There you happy now?!"

Reimu took all the yen and put them back into the donation box. "Thank you, Marisa~." Reimu said happily as she smiled at Marisa.

Marisa looked away with her arms crossed, a slight blush on her face. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." Marisa said.

"Oh my, I didn't think you would be a tsundere~." Mima said teasingly to her protégé.

"Shut up!" Marisa yelled at the tremendously powerful green-haired ghost. "Say, where's Kana?"

"She's sleeping. Ghosts and poltergeists don't need to sleep, but we prefer to. And we usually prefer to sleep in the day, since we ghosts are meant to be entities of the night." Mima answered, the ghost making a fake, but very convincing, yawn and stretch. "In fact, I think I may need some shut-eye myself."

"Wait, you just said that you ghosts don't need to sleep, and now you're pretending to be sleepy?!" Reimu yelled at Mima.

"I'm an old lady, I need my sleep. Give this woman a break." Mima said in a faux tired and indignant voice, the ghost fading out of existence as she went to... wherever she goes to sleep.

Reimu sighed, leaning back as she sat at the porch, appreciating the gentle breeze of the day (and appreciating that it wasn't strong enough to blow down her leaf pile and forcing her to start all over again). "Damn, what a nice day~." Marisa said, the magician taking her witch hat off and placing it next to her. "Now I know why you always love to sit here, it's like your shrine has been blessed by a wind god. Wait, I now got a theory that your Hakurei God is a wind deity."

"No. I don't have a clear idea of what kind of deity the Hakurei God is, but it definitely isn't a wind god." Genji answered. The cool breeze continued on for a while, though Genji could see and sense a entity approaching, albeit a weak one. "I think you might have some company. Weak company."

A Taiwanese youkai appeared at the torii gate, landing in front of the shrine. Her hair and eyes were the colour red, a yellow cap on her head and a white bow in her hair. She was wearing green and yellow clothing and was also holding a baton in one of her hands. She gave of an aura of power that felt like she was rather weak, just barely above the average fairy in strength. Reimu and Marisa can defeat her effortlessly on their own.

 **Baton of Decoration**

 **Orange**

"I am Orange, a powerful and dangerous youkai," Orange lied, pointing her baton towards Reimu and Marisa, though more specifically she was pointing towards Reimu. "I have travelled far and wide across the dimensions, searching for the Hakurei maiden so I can kill her and gain the power to control the tremendously power Yin-Yang Orb. With the power of such an item in my control, no other youkai will be a match for me."

"You're weak." Marisa commented, having seemingly ignored what Orange said, causing the aforementioned youkai to fall on her face. "I can sense it from you, your power is very low. Even when I was in one week in training, I would still be strong enough to kick your ass easily."

"You should not underestimate me." Orange said, raising back to her feet, holding out her baton in front of the duo of maidens. "This baton of mine is a dangerous weapon! With it, I can drain you of your powers and use them against you. With this powerful item of mine, your only hope is to give up the Yin-Yang Orb to me."

"Really? Doesn't look all that powerful or dangerous to me." Marisa said, the magician protégé holding the item in front of her face, examining it up close and carefully.

Orange widened her red eyes, the youkai looking at the hand that held her baton a few seconds ago; completely empty. "How did you take my baton without me noticing?!" Orange asked, the youkai unable to believe that a human (and a little girl at that) had stolen her baton from _her own hands_ without her noticing.

"I'm a master thief." Marisa responded simply and casually, tossing the baton back to the Taiwanese youkai without a care, deducing it as weak and without value. "It doesn't matter if you are a human or a youkai, I can take things that are even on your body and you wouldn't notice until it's too late."

"I take that your parents don't approve." Reimu said, giving her friend a disapproving look for her blatant thievery.

"No _p_ e~." Marisa responded, putting emphasis on the 'p' in her word.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Orange yelled, barely able to keep and Reimu and Marisa's attention. The youkai growled at the two, pointing her baton at them once again. "I'll show you! The power of my baton is dependant on my will and the power of my opponent. You will..."

The ground beneath the shrine suddenly began to shake, even the trees were ruffling with leaves falling out of them. Orange looked around at the sky and ground, trying to see if she could find the source from the small earthquake. Even Reimu, Marisa and Genji were alarmed by the sudden shaking. The ground beneath Orange suddenly burst upwards, sending the youkai flying away into a tree, the immortal being somehow snapping her neck and dying, her corpse disappearing into nothingness until it inevitably comes back with her alive.

There was now a massive hole in the ground in front of the shrine, a large thing sticking out of the hole.

It was a giant, lotus-like flower with two large aerials. There was an aura that looked like an infinity symbol above the aerials. Despite being a flower, the lotus roared. It roared loudly, like a giant animal.

 **Feral Lotus of Fantasy**

 **Bewitching Lotus Flower**

"Just _what_ is that thing." Marisa yelled, her hearing repairing from the Lotus' loud roar.

"I don't know. I have never seen a flower that looks anything like this one, in this world or other ones." Genji responded, looking at the giant and odd flower as it just stood there, the aerials moving around pointlessly, the infinity-like aura not changing in appearance. The old turtle narrowed his dark eyes as he continued to look at the sudden creature. "Nonetheless, I feel a familiar energy coming from this thing."

"What kind of familiar energy, Gramps?" Reimu asked.

"I don't know, it's an energy that I haven't felt for a really, really long time." Genji responded, the turtle nearing the shrine maiden trainee, trying to make her get on his shell. "But whatever it is, I don't trust it. I can feel that it has some sort of malicious intent within it. I believe it is here to attack us."

The Lotus Flower let out another roar (how it was able to roar, despite not having anything like a mouth, is a mystery), the plant charging up a yellow sphere between its aerials. Reimu stared at the yellow orb that the Bewitching Lotus Flower was charging, the shrine maiden trainee suddenly up in the air above the shrine, a little arm around her. Reimu noticed that she was in the air because of Marisa, the protégé keeping an arm around the purple-haired maiden to keep her in the air. The Bewitching Lotus Flower suddenly aimed its aerials up towards the two flying maidens, shooting the sphere towards them, the yellow attack moving at quick speeds.

Marisa let go of Reimu as she dodged the sphere, being almost as big as her entire body. Reimu landed on her front, on Genji's shell, the trainee having the air knocked out of her momentarily.

The Lotus Flower let out another loud roar, charging a yellow sphere once again. "It really is trying to attack us." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee getting on her thief, holding out her gohei and ofuda, using her connection with the Yin-Yang Orb to summon the object to her side. The Yin-Yang Orb split into two duplicates, Reimu fired her holy danmaku and magic charms at the monster-like flower as Marisa shot her star-shaped danmaku at it.

The projectiles made contact with the Lotus Flower, though the large attack looked like it was doing very little damage to the flower, if any damage at all.

"Damn, that little weed is durable as fuck!" Marisa shouted, the magician floating up in the air while Reimu and Genji were flying around near the ground, the Bewitching Lotus only taking notice of the holy duo. Actually, it seemed like its attention was only directed towards Reimu. The Lotus let out another roar before shooting the yellow sphere at the duo. Genji flew out of the way, the sphere hitting the ground, creating a small pit. Reimu and Genji flew up into the air, Marisa appeared by their side as all three of them looked at the giant lotus. "Jeez, Reimu, who'd you piss off for them to send you a killer flower?"

"I don't know, I have been exterminating a lot of youkai as of late." Reimu responded calmly, trying to think of a way to hurt and destroy the flower. It seemed like regular danmaku doesn't work against it.

"I have been with you for every youkai that you've thought and exterminated. It can't be a youkai looking for revenge for you exterminating it, none of them are strong enough to summon or create a... thing like this." Genji said, looking at the giant lotus as it began to wiggle its large aerials like crazy. That didn't look like something good. "Most of the youkai that you've exterminated aren't even as strong as this flower. It has to be something else, but for what reason did they send you this?"

The Lotus Flower let out another roar, the roars getting louder and louder with each roar. Multiple tiny yellow spheres suddenly appeared around the Bewitching Lotus, like it was using a weaker version of its charged attack. The spheres flew towards the trio, the shrine maiden trainee and turtle-like entity and magician protégé flew out of the way of the as they shot forward like bullets. The Lotus Flower had of course directed its aim towards Reimu, the trainee looking at it indignantly.

"What is with this thing?" Reimu said, the trainee keeping hold of Genji's shell. Reimu used her link to make the two duplicates turn back into the regular Yin-Yang Orb, the purple-haired maiden whacking the orb towards the giant flower. The relic hit the lotus, the flower becoming knocked back from the force, seemingly letting out another roar, though this one was more of pain. Reimu widened her eyes in realisation as she used her link to make the yin-yang fly back to her. "Hey, that Yin-Yang Orb managed to hurt it. We're going to have to rely on more than just regular danmaku, we're going to have to use our stronger attacks."

Marisa looked at Reimu, surprised, before she looked at the Bewitching Lotus Flower, a wide grin growing on her face. "Awesome! I got a guinea pig for some of my newer, stronger spells." The blonde said, pointing her wand towards the flower, the little star on the end becoming set on fire. "Burst Dragon!"

A giant dragon of fire shot out of the little star at the end of Marisa's wand, the seemingly living creature flying towards the strong flower, making an explosion of fire as it made impact. The Lotus Flower was set on fire, roaring in pain some more. Fire had also spread around where the flower was hit, setting the trees around it on fire. Yet, miraculously, the Hakurei shrine wasn't even singed.

The fires surrounding the Lotus Flower were extinguished quickly by an unknown force. The flower began to charge a yellow sphere between the aerials again, shooting the sphere up into the air. "I have a bad feelin' 'bout that." Marisa said as the sphere flew up into the sky. The sphere was high in the air, almost impossible to see without help, the sphere bursting apart, releasing and turning into a bunch of danmaku that fell towards the ground like falling meteors. "I was right! That is _really_ bad!"

The falling danmaku came down at high speeds, demolishing trees and making many small holes in the ground. Once again, the Hakurei shrine was untouched and undamaged. "Shield!" Marisa commanded as she raised her wand, the little star glowing a bright blue. Marisa was surrounded by a sphere of a translucent, light blue colours, the sphere protecting her from the yellow danmaku.

Reimu focussed her power into the Yin-Yang Orb, the trainee summoning Gyoku, the priest spirit creating a protective barrier above the duo before disappearing, though the barrier remained intact.

The yellow danmaku poured from the sky without end. Marisa continued to put her magic power into the protective sphere around her, the shield beginning to crack as the danmaku was gradually overpowering it. The danmaku finally stopped, allowing Marisa to dispel her shield. Reimu and Genji appeared at the magician's side.

"This thing is really powerful." Reimu commented as she looked at the Lotus Flower, the creature merely wiggling its aerials. "If we don't defeat it soon, it could be a threat to Gensokyo...!"

"I'm certain that you are overstating it, Lady Reimu." Genji said with a bead of sweat falling down his temple.

The Bewitching Lotus Flower let out another loud roar, seemingly shaking the ground and making all birds in the nearby area fly away. "WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" Kana yelled, the poltergeist throwing an alarm clock at the Lotus Flower, the item hitting the flower and gaining its attention. Kana was dressed differently, wearing light blue pyjamas and a light blue nightcap. The poltergeist looked very angry. "YOUR ROARING IS ENOUGH TO WAKE THE DEAD! LET ME REST IN PEACE!"

Kana stomped back into the Hakurei shrine, the poltergeist grumbling along the way as her spectral form began to dissolve out of sight. Reimu, Marisa and Genji watched, blinking as they were comprehending what happened. Even the Lotus Flower seemed to be left nonplussed for a transient time.

The Bewitching Lotus let out another loud roar, making what looked like hundreds of thorny vines shoot out from the ground around it, waving around wildly without control, shooting up towards the two supernatural maidens above it.

Genji (with Reimu on top him) and Marisa flew out of the way of the attacking vines, the aforementioned plant parts moving at speeds that would easily out do the regular human. "Oh come on, at least send some towards Marisa!" Reimu yelled indignantly as the Lotus Flower sent all of its vines towards her. It actually seemed like the Bewitching Lotus Flower listened to her, as some vines then started to go towards her, though it was very few (at least in comparison to the total number, or the ones attacking Reimu and Genji).

"Hey, I'm the one who is saving your ass here! Unless you want me to just leave you to fight this thing on your own, don't tell it to start hittin' me!" Marisa yelled, as indignant towards Reimu as the trainee was to the flower. The vines that were aimed towards Marisa attempted to stab her at speeds comparable to a tengu, the protégé barely dodging them. Marisa held her wand out in front of her, cold magical energy building in the star. "Freeze Fantasia!"

The vines that were not only aimed at Marisa, but even the ones aimed at Reimu, were completely frozen in pure ice, the Lotus Flower no longer able to move the parts of it. The flower began to charge a large sphere of yellow energy between its aerials once again, shooting it into the air. Reimu immediately knew what the plan was, the sphere flying into the air to release meteors of falling danmaku once again.

Reimu made sure that her Yin-Yang Orb was in one form, the shrine maiden trainee throwing the relic towards the yellow sphere, the holy item destroying the sphere of pure energy. Reimu proceeded to call the Yin-Yang Orb back to her, the shrine maiden trainee holding her gohei high above her head as it continued to fly towards her, the purple-haired maiden aiming towards the open flower. Reimu hit the Yin-Yang Orb, the sacred item hitting the Lotus Flower, greatly damaging it.

Cracks appeared around the frozen vines of the Lotus Flower, the thorny parts breaking free of their icy prison.

"Aww, that made my spell feel pointless." Marisa complained.

The thorny vines began to wrap around the Bewitching Lotus Flower, guarding the thing as a dome of thorns. The tiny yellow spheres surrounded the dome, shooting out in every which way. The two maidens were able to dodge the bullets, though they had to keep their distance as the sheer number was overwhelming.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, her voice filled with power, summoning yin-yang that glowed in the colours of red, green and blue, the bright spheres flying towards the guarded flower, easily breaking apart and destroying the yellow danmaku. The Fantasy Seal surrounded the Lotus Flower, exploding and creating a large puff of smoke. The smoke cleared, showing the vines surrounding the Bewitching Lotus Flower to be burnt and damaged, but there were still too many for either of the two to attack the living flower.

"Burst Dragon!" Marisa yelled, firing a living dragon made of fire towards the Bewitching Lotus once again. The dragon hit the flower, fire once again flying everywhere, though it was rather pointless as most of the trees around the Hakurei shrine were destroyed nevertheless, and the Hakurei shrine was seemingly guarded by some magical or divine force as it wasn't damaged in the slightest.

The Bewitching Lotus Flower remained still, the flower suddenly opening its petals, the leaves and the aerials falling down to the ground, seemingly lifeless. The Lotus Flower suddenly exploded into pink smoke, no signs of its existence remaining except for the large hole that it came from; the large hole that the pink smoke continued to emit from.

Reimu and Marisa both looked at the hole in confusion, blinking as they were trying to wrap their heads around the mysterious defeat of the living flower.

Genji floated towards the Hakurei shrine as he also floated towards the ground. Reimu hopped off Genji as the turtle reached the ground, Marisa soon appeared at her side.

"Mima!" Genji yelled as he tapped one of his rough feet against the Hakurei shrine rather loudly. "Wake up, Mima! Something inexplicable just happened, and if anyone can understand an inexplicable thing, it's you!"

"Well, that may be the highest praise I can ever get from someone like you." Mima said casually as her form faded into existence on the shrine's roof, her tail swishing around. The green-haired ghost was smiling, evolving further into a teeth-showing grin as Genji floated upwards to face towards her. "So what is it that you called me here for when you've always been more content with me being as far away as possible? Did you just call me here because you want an excuse to complain? I know old people love to complain about things, and you are very old."

As Mima and Genji were 'talking', Reimu decided to inspect the hole further, walking up towards it. Reimu used her gohei to swat away the rest of the pink smoke, allowing her to look into the hole without trouble. Reimu got down onto her knees, the shrine maiden trainee peeking into the hole, her eyes widening and her face gradually growing pale.

"Hey, Eggplant, what's with you?" Marisa asked as she approached Reimu from behind, curious about what has her friend's attention. Reimu didn't respond, the trainee continuing to look down into the hole where the Lotus was, the colour still slowly leaving her body. A vein began to press out on Marisa's forehead as she started to poke Reimu with the end of her broomstick, the trainee still not responding. Marisa was starting to get ticked off with her friend for ignoring her. "Hey, at least acknowledge that I'm speaking to you. I may steal a lot, but at least I'm not _rude_...!"

"Hole." Reimu responded in an emotionless voice, pointing into the pit without looking away. "Look. Something in the hole."

Marisa rolled her eyes and walked to Reimu's side, the magician sitting down on her knees and looking into the hole. Marisa was suddenly filled with fear, her body frozen as the colour was gradually fading from her skin.

Within the hole, the dark abyss that seemed like it was changed by magic to look like the hole was a portal to the end of existence. And within this abyss were two creepy, red eyes, staring right into the soul of the maidens. One of the eyes disappeared for a second - was the pair of eyes winking? - before both of the eyes disappeared.

The black darkness that was once all that there was in the hole (except for the pair of red eyes) began to disappear, being replaced by a bunch of dirt. It was still a large hole, a deep hole, but it was nevertheless no longer the black abyss it once was.

Reimu and Marisa could feel the control of their bodies once again, colour returning to their skin. "Hey, what're with you two?" Mima asked, tapping the two maidens on the back with the crescent of her sceptre. The two turned around to look at the ghost, floating above them with crossed arms and her staff in her hand. "So what's got you two interested in that little hole in the ground? I know your mysterious attacker appeared and died there, but I still don't see what's so appealing."

"The hole was this deep, black void, and there were these red eyes staring up at us." Reimu explained immediately. "Then I think the eyes winked at us, and then they just disappeared."

"Hmm, it definitely looks like an incident." Mima mused to herself, looking at a giant gang of fairies that were flying around in the air, mindlessly attacking anything they came across that wasn't one of them. "It seems like someone is trying to get your attention, seeing as they are sending dangerous flowers to you and are making the fairies crazy. Luckily I managed to get some of the residue magical energy from the flower, so now you can find whoever it is that wants to play with you."

"But how do I find them?" Reimu asked

Mima made a short laugh, taking off her hat and reaching into it. Mima was seemingly feeling whatever was within her hat, her arm going in deep before she pulled out a transparent ball. "I've put some of that magic energy into this crystal ball of mine. Just simply want to find whoever it is that caused all this, and the crystal ball will direct you there." Mima said, sounding prideful of her accomplishment. Mima flew towards the maiden duo, the ghost putting her item into her trusted protégé's hand. "Marisa, whoever it is that is behind this is an extremely powerful magic user. I want you to help Reimu and pick up whatever you can about this mysterious person's magic. I may be a master of magic, but it seems like whoever is behind this could help me improve my already magnificent magic even further."

The crystal ball in Marisa's hand began to glow a bright green colour, a green arrow appearing within the see-through ball, pointing off to somewhere in Gensokyo. It was easy enough to know that this arrow was pointing towards wherever the mastermind behind this attack is hiding. Marisa actually felt a little dubious, not wanting to fight the thing that is behind those creepy red eyes, but she decided to just swallow all her fears and fight on. If she comes across the owner of those eyes, whenever they have powerful magic power or not, she's blasting them all the way to the moon.

Reimu got on Genji's back, the holy turtle-like entity flying up into the air. "Aren't you going to come too?" Reimu asked Mima, the ghost not even being surprised by the shrine maiden trainee's question.

"No. I'm retired, so I can just stay at home. It doesn't really even look like it's that big of an incident." Mima said casually, shrugging her arms. "I'll just stay here and clean up the massive mess you all made."

Marisa and Genji (with Reimu on his shell) flew off, though Mima could hear Genji grumbling about her being lazy as he was sure he was outside of her range of hearing. Mime merely snorted at the old entity's words, as it was shamelessly true; Mima was really being lazy. Of course the ghost was certain that Reimu and Marisa were going to survive; the two have already survived most things that no other human would have a chance at, and Mima doesn't even sense much of a threat in what's happening.

Thus, she is completely okay with being lazy and lounging around the shrine.

Mima floated towards the small warehouse that was somewhere behind the Hakurei shrine, the magician using her telekinesis to open the warehouse doors before entering. Mima found what she was looking for, a deactivated android maid. Mima tapped on Ruukoto's forehead, the android turning back on.

"Where is Lady Reimu?" Ruukoto asked with an emotionless voice and face.

"She's out. Someone attacked the shrine and made a huge mess and now she's hunting them down for revenge." Mima answered casually, the ghost pointing to the shrine. "Go clean up the mess, you are a maid made for cleaning up messes."

Ruukoto didn't say anything, the robot made merely doing as she was told as a broom appeared out of nowhere in her hand, the nuclear-powered android maid starting off with sweeping away all the debris. Mima flew into the Hakurei shrine, the ghost casually resting her form under the kotatsu.

* * *

Elly was scurrying around the inside of Mugenkan, the shinigami opening doors and checking the rooms to find whoever she was looking for, only to come out without result. The blonde was almost half certain that she had already checked half of Mugenkan, and she had already informed Kurumi to notify her if she were to notice who they were looking for, so it was almost undoubtable that the person they were looking for decided to leave without notification or warning.

Elly usually wouldn't mind, after all she's so strong that even medium-levelled youkai run away upon the sight of her.

However she hasn't slept in a while, and in that state she's unable to find the will to fight with her full power if she comes across something that is actually a threat to her. Besides, Elly just can't help but worry about her if she's out in such a state; she owes her existence to her.

Elly continued to rush through the interior of Mugenkan, the walls like a watercolour painting with how fast she was moving, the shinigami only stopping to check another room.

"My, Elly, is something keeping you worried?" Yuuka asked in a concerned voice. Elly immediately stopped and turned around, seeing Yuuka, the green-haired youkai in her formal attire. Elly suddenly jumped at Yuuka, the grim reaper hugging her master.

"You got me and Kurumi worried sick, Yuuka!" Elly said as she hugged her surprised friend. Elly looked at Yuuka, the shinigami easily seeing the bags under her red eyes as she recklessly decided to just avoid sleep for no apparent reason. "You can't just leave Mugenkan without letting either of us know, especially when you are in your current state. What if something bad happened to you and neither of us could do anything to save you?!"

Yuuka's eyes widened as Elly began to tear up, the youkai patting her reaper friend on the head comfortingly. "I'm sorry, Elly. I just had some important business to do. I expected myself to be so quick that neither of you would notice, but I got too caught up in the moment." Yuuka said, her words putting her worried friend at ease. "I can assure you that I was never in any real danger. If I was, I would just unleash a Master Spark against my enemy. And even if they did anything bad to me, even if they destroyed my body, I would just be able to regenerate completely as long as mind still exists. Does that make you feel better, my honeysuckle?"

"Yeah... I guess it does." Elly responded, the shinigami calming down. "So, what important business were you needed for?"

"I was just getting the shrine maiden's attention~." Yuuka responded in a cheerful yet casual tone. "She should already be on her way here. I made sure that my Bewitching Lotus Flower got her attention."

Elly was frozen still, the shinigami growing a few shades whiter, the words of her master repeating in her head like a broken record.

"Forgive me for stepping out of line, Lady Yuuka but are you COMPLETELY AND ABSOLUTELY INSANE?!" Elly outburst, causing Yuuka to step back on surprise. It was rare that Yuuka ever got Elly to get mad, or to yell at her. "Why did you pick now, _now_ of all times, to challenge the shrine maiden?!"

"Because I couldn't postpone it any longer. I wanted to play a game with the shrine maiden." Yuuka answered, the youkai letting out a deep yawn from how tired she really was.

Elly let out an annoyed sigh, her tense features relaxing. "Come on, Yuuka. Let's get you to bed." Elly said as the tremendously powerful youkai leaned on her shorter form, the shinigami walking her to her bedchamber. "Once this is over, Kurumi and I are going to have to give you a bit of a talking to."

"As a responsible youkai, I am willing to take the consequences of you and Kuru scolding me..." Yuuka responded in a tired yet relaxed tone, the youkai falling asleep as the two were just outside her bedroom.

* * *

 **Now starts the Lotus Land Story arc, and there's a very noticeable difference for anyone that has seen or played the original game. In the original game, the Bewitching Lotus Flower was just the midboss of the first stage, while Orange was the first stage boss. And yet here it is presented the other way around. This choice mostly arouse from the fact that I couldn't really think of that much to do with Orange, at least in comparison to the Lotus Flower. She's basically like Matenshi where I just disrespect her. If your a fan of Orange, sorry. But hey, as a youkai her fatal neck snap is only a temporary kill.**

 **As for the Bewitching Lotus Flower, I felt like I did good for a fight against a giant flower. Of course I decided to make it that Yuuka was directly controlling the lotus and that the red eyes you see after defeating the flower in the original game is her eyes. That is the answer for any of you who are wondering why I decided her eyes to red like in the Windows Era, instead of the green she had in the Pc-98 Era.**

 **I know I ended the battle against the Lotus Flower, but it is meant to be a beginner enemy for the current arc, and the chapter is already long enough as it is. We can just say that Yuuka got bored of using the flower and decided to make it disappear.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and allowed.**


	28. Break the Sabbath

Marisa flew high in the air above Gensokyo, Genji and Reimu following after the magician as the arrow in the crystal ball pointed her towards the unknown attacker. As soon as the two incident resolvers were in the air, the wild fairies, crazy from the new magical power that was bursting through the air, began to shoot at them without a second thought. The first group of the day that Reimu and Marisa came across had fairies that shot either jagged danmaku that were aimed directly at them, or large bubble-shaped danmaku that flew in all directions. Reimu and Marisa easily countered the fairies by shooting their own danmaku, the fairies only being good for some grazes as they didn't put up much of a fight; becoming defeated with a single bullet.

Reimu and Marisa didn't bother to stop for even a second as they came across the fairies, that was why some of those fairies remained after the two shot through them. The two had soon flown over the Human Village, passing over it completely until they came across a huge field of sunflowers.

"Hmm, that's strange." Marisa commented as she looked at the crystal orb, the green arrow within it pointing downwards towards the field of flowers that she and Reimu were flying above. "According to this thing, whoever it is that's causing this incident is in here... Wait, why do I feel like I know this place?"

Multiple fairies in dresses, with bigger wings than most and sunflowers in their hands, flew out of the vastly large field of sunflowers. Reimu shot away at the sudden attackers with holy danmaku and ofuda as Marisa just sat there, trying to remember where she had heard or seen this field from. The sunflower fairies retreated back into the field, barely being a match for the Hakurei shrine maiden trainee.

Marisa snapped her fingers, her eyes filled with realisation. "I remember, this is the Garden of the Sun!" Marisa said. Reimu turned her head as she looked at her friend, one of her eyebrows raised. Marisa rolled her eyes, knowing that she would have to explain. "When I was young, I nearly wondered in there. My mum stopped me and told me to never go into the Garden of the Sun, because there are youkai in there that sometimes prey on wondering humans. Apparently, this field just appeared in the middle of the night once. It was a long time ago, hell my parents were little kids themselves when it appeared. I've never been in before, 'cause I'm either learning magic or borrowing from others, but I heard that the Garden of the Sun is even bigger on the inside."

"This definitely a youkai's home." Reimu concluded, looking towards the magic field of sunflowers. "I don't doubt that the incident causer is lying in here. Come on Genji, we got to get in there."

The duo (or trio, if you count Genji and Reimu as separate) flew into the Garden of the Sun, with Marisa in the lead. "Heeheehee~! Look, it's a bunch of little girls~." A high-pitched voice from within the field giggled, the sound of dozens of little wings flapping in the background. "They look so lost, it would be a trouble if something were to happen to them~."

A giant wave of fairies flew out from the sunflowers within the field, wasting no time to aim danmaku at the incident resolvers. Reimu and Marisa started to fire back, though it didn't matter how many fairies they destroyed, even with a single bullet, the wave of danmaku was slowly growing stronger with each second.

"We need to fly out of here, this is too much!" Genji yelled, even as he was not one of the ones shooting away at the fairies, he could still tell that the pure number was overwhelming. Genji looked around, trying to find a place where he and Marisa could fly to get away, but most of the areas around them are densely surrounded by sunflowers, and even if that wasn't the case, the high number of oncoming fairies and the endless danmaku they were shooting made the chances even less than they already were. Genji then looked up, seeing that the sky was completely clear of fairies and danmaku. "Fly up into the air, it's our only way of escape!"

Marisa didn't like to run or fly away from battle, she didn't want to give an impression that she was a dirty coward. She always believed that she was far from it. But as Genji flew up into the air, she knew that flying away was their only chance against these crazy little-girl like entities. Making sure that she kept her crystal ball in one hand, Marisa gripped the tip of her broomstick with the other, flying up into the air. Maris was now above the Garden of the Sun, the protégé being surprised by what she saw.

It was like Gensokyo itself had vanished from existence; all that Marisa could see was just sunflowers after sunflowers that reached up to the end of the horizon.

"Wow, there is no doubt that this place is owned by a powerful youkai." Marisa said, a vast myriad of danmaku of various shapes, colours and sizes shot up from beneath the magician and the shrine maiden trainee. Marisa glared down at the crazy youkai. "Alright, get lost! Stardust Reverie!"

Marisa summoned a giant rain of star-shaped danmaku, the magical attack destroying the fairies danmaku and obliterating multiple fairies at that, the spell lasting until not a single fairy remained. "That should keep them out of our hair for a while, we should go deeper before they return." Genji said, the turtle (along with the trainee on his back) and Marisa flying in deeper in the Garden of the Sun, especially as the fairies that Marisa had defeated earlier were forming back into existence, though they were still unconscious.

Reimu and Marisa continued to shoot danmaku that were holy and star-shaped (respectively) as they continued to fly through the field of large flowers, defeating all the youkai and fairies that came their way. From time to time, they would come across a rather large group of fairies and/or youkai that would prove to be too much for their regular danmaku, though those were easily gotten ridden with by either a Fantasy Seal from Reimu or a Stardust Reverie from Marisa.

The resolvers followed the guidance of the crystal ball until they reached a lake that was within the giant field of flowers. Whatever the lake was filled with, it definitely wasn't water. Instead it was deep red liquid. Reimu stuck her finger into the lake, feeling that the liquid was rather thick, at least in comparison to water.

Reimu's eyes slowly grew wider as she was realising what the red liquid was. "This is blood...!" Reimu said, taking her finger out. The shrine maiden trainee looked at the digit, painted red by the contents of the lake. Reimu reached into her sleeve with her hand, the one that didn't have the blood-soaked finger, and pulled out an ofuda. Reimu was quick around her finger as she used the ofuda as a type of cloth, the paper managing to soak up all of the blood before Reimu let go of it, the ofuda sinking into the river of blood. It wasn't proper use of the talisman, but Reimu wanted the blood off before it could dry. "This is an entire river of blood. I think that a vampire might live here."

"WHO'RE YOU CALLING A VAMPIRE!" An angry voice yelled from further up in the lake. Reimu, Marisa and Genji looked further up the river, seeing no other living entity in sight, not even a fairy or youkai. But what they did see was a Western-style mansion of pink colouring up ahead, surrounded by a garden of various different flowers. It seemed like the mansion was sitting in the direct centre of the lake, the edge of the garden protected by a metal gate. Even then, surrounding the piece of land that the mansion and garden were located on was a platform of white marble, looking so immaculate that it seemed like it was recently put there or was protected by some magic.

It wouldn't be surprising if the latter option was the right one.

"The crystal ball's pointing towards that mansion over there." Marisa said, the protégé floating towards the mansion. Even though the mansion was a little hard to see from the distance, she could still tell that the arrow was pointing at the doors of the mansion. "We just have to get in there and kick the ass of whoever it is that sent that flower, take their magic and give it to Mima and then we're done."

A little girl-like entity suddenly burst up through the lake of blood, a serious look in her golden eyes, Her hair was a long blonde and she was wearing a white shirt with red suspenders. She also had these large bat wings on her back. "Not so fast!" The mysterious person yelled. "I am Kurumi, the guardian of the Lake of Blood, and a guardian of Mugenkan. It is my job to stop all trespassers from putting even a foot in the area of my mistress, leave now or you will be slaughtered."

 **Guardian of Blood**

 **Kurumi**

Marisa only smiled excitedly at Kurumi. "Whatever, I love a good fight. Hopefully some one on one will get these bones of mine to actually move." Marisa said, stretching her arms. "So you want me to go easy on you or go all out? It doesn't matter what you decide, I'm going to hold nothing back against you nevertheless."

"That really defeats the point of your question." Kurumi mumbled, sweat-dropping from Marisa's lack of care towards options. The vampire(?) regained her composure, continuing to glare at the trio. "I am far stronger than the fairies and youkai that play around in the Garden. I have even defeated many-ARRGH!"

Reimu had grown impatient of Kurumi's talking, the shrine maiden trainee having thrown danmaku at the creature. The maiden's aim was a little off, but it was still enough to hit Kurumi, cutting through the side of her right arm. Even though the charm went through cleanly, and not a piece of it remained as it cut through, the skin and even the clothing around the cut formed by the talisman grew black like it was all burnt, with some smoke even emitting from the open cut. Kurumi hissed in pain as she put her hand over the wound, the blonde looking at Reimu.

"That is holy power, something completely dangerous to youkai." Kurumi said as she looked at Reimu. "You're definitely the shrine maiden, aren't you? Well then, you're the one that my master decided to... 'invite' to play with her. Well, you're still going to have to defeat me before I'll let you pass further."

"So someone sent that lotus to my shrine because they want to play?" Reimu asked. "Are they careless?"

"...Yes, she can be rather careless at times." Kurumi admitted, a drop of sweat falling down the side of her head once again. Kurumi raised a flat palm, a blue sphere appearing above it. "Regardless, as the guardian of both the River of Blood, and Mugenkan, I still cannot just let you enter my master's domain as you please. Defeating me is crucial if you wish to fight my master."

Reimu threw ofuda towards Kurumi, the youkai flying into the air, out of the way of the holy talisman, now aware of the attack as she was paying proper attention. Kurumi threw the ball above her palm towards Reimu and Marisa, the two flying away from the attack as it exploded upon touching the Lake of Blood, causing droplets of blood to fly into the air and rain over Reimu, Genji and Marisa. Marisa ignored that her hat, clothes and body were covered in the red droplets that may have been in someone before, the blonde pointing her magic wand towards Kurumi.

"Lightning Lance Strike!" Marisa yelled, her voice filled with power as she chanted the spell, the star at the end of her wand becoming surrounded by lightning before it shot a large bolt, almost as big as Kurumi herself. The youkai had barely managed to evade the attack, shooting blue lasers at Marisa. The blonde magician dodged the blonde youkai's attacks, flying into the air and charging up her own spell. "Omnidirectional Concerto!"

Blue magic circles appeared around Kurumi, the magic circles in the air and pointing down at her. Kurumi looked around, seeing that there was too small of a space for her to escape through. Or at least that is what Marisa though before she turned into a bat, flying out of the trap of magic circles.

Marisa growled, stopping the rest of the spell as it would just be a waste of energy.

The bat flew away, turning back into Kurumi. The bat youkai shot laser towards Reimu and Marisa, as well as the areas around them, since they were fast enough to dodge the lasers that she used. Even though Reimu was certain that Genji was dodging to lasers, she was suddenly hit in the side by danmaku. Reimu put a hand over the area where she was hit, feeling a stinging sensation there. Reimu looked from where she felt like she was hit, seeing that danmaku was coming from the laser. It seemed that whenever it hit the blood or went a specific distance from Kurumi, it just burst into danmaku.

"Marisa...!" Reimu said.

"Yeah, I already noticed." Marisa responded, knowing the rest of what her friend was going to say. The sorceress merely smirked at Kurumi. "So ya like dirty tricks, don't ya? Well that's good, hopefully now Shorty the Shrine Maiden here won't criticise me for not playing fair."

Marisa took off her hat, reaching in it and pulling out an elixir with a glowing liquid.

"What is that?" Genji asked.

"Just be sure to close your eyes." Marisa said, the magician throwing the elixir high into the air, causing Kurumi to look at it. Marisa looked away and covered her eyes with her hand, pointing her wand at the glass bottle, shooting out a blue laser. As the elixir broke into pieces, the liquid within it began to react to the air, making a large explosion of light. Marisa moved her hand away, seeing that the light explosion had left Kurumi disoriented. The blonde then looked at Reimu and Genji, the two having done what Marisa said and being saved from having their vision ruined by the explosion. "Good, you did as I said. Now fire your ofuda at her; she's weak to holy charms and whatnot, your attacks are the best to use against her!"

Reimu immediately caught on to what Marisa said, throwing ofuda at the still dazed youkai. The holy paper stabbed into Kurumi's body, burning her. Kurumi let out a scream, the bat youkai grabbing hold of the youkai and quickly throwing them off her, her palms being burnt black with smoke coming from them because of the holy energy's burn effect on her.

"I must retreat!" Kurumi said, the bat-like woman flying away, looking back at Reimu, Marisa and Genji as she continued flying away. "Attack units, you must defend Mugenkan."

As Kurumi continued to fly away, spiked balls appeared from the Lake of Blood, flying towards the incident resolvers at high speeds. Reimu and Marisa countered the balls with their danmaku, holding off against them as they were no match.

"Ha, this is rather easy." Reimu said, easily firing away the spiked balls with her holy danmaku, the shrine maiden trainee still seeing Kurumi from a distance away. Suddenly bats appeared from the sky, screeching towards the trainee and protégé. The two continued to fight against them, easily blasting away multiple bats with a single danmaku bullet. "Yeah, it's still rather easy."

Genji, Reimu and Marisa flew towards Mugenkan, the trio stopping in front of the marble platform surrounding the mansion. "Stop, I won't let you pass. Not until you defeat me." Kurumi said as she appeared from the sky, floating in front of the area, her arms outstretched as she glared at the three. "I am a loyal servant of my mistress, and the guardian of the Lake of Blood. I don't care if you have a way to defeat me with your holy attacks, I have successfully defeated many humans and youkai in the past, I won't let you become an exception to my streak that has been going on for over a decade."

"Really, you've defeated humans and youkai? And for over a decade, too?" Marisa asked, the magician looking like she was on the verge of going into a fit of laughter. "I know that Eggplant 'n I are really strong, but you're so weak that I wouldn't even believe such a statement. I know this is hypocritical coming from me, but you need to be more honest."

"I usually end up fighting others during night time!" Kurumi argued. "I'm a being of the night, so I'm stronger when the sun sets and the moon reveals itself. If it weren't such a sunny day, I would be a harder challenge."

"I'm surprised that you're able to stay out in the sunlight without being burned to ashes." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee still standing on Genji. "I mean, I know that my knowledge of vampires isn't the best, but I thought I remember hearing that vampires burn to death in the sunlight."

Kurumi was silent as she looked at Reimu, her eyes emotionless as the area around her eyes darkened. "What did you call me?" Kurumi asked in a dark voice.

"A vampire." Reimu responded simply, the shrine maiden trainee turning her head to the side. "Aren't you a vampire?"

Vampire...

 _Vampire..._

 _VAMPIRE!_

"I AM NOT A STUPID VAMPIRE!" Kurumi roared angrily at Reimu, the bat youkai firing her blue lasers at the purple-haired trainee rapidly. Genji flew Reimu out of the way, the turtle having to speed across the Lake of Blood as Kurumi didn't cease her attempted assault, danmaku shooting around the air as the lasers made contact with the red lake that surrounded Mugenkan. Kurumi ignored Marisa, the bat youkai flying past the other blonde as she continued to hunt down Reimu and Genji (more specifically the latter), aiming her lasers only at them, something that Marisa took easy notice of.

"Wow, Reimu, you sure have a penchant for youkai to try to kill you today." Marisa remarked as Reimu continued to fly away from Kurumi, the shrine maiden trainee throwing ofuda and shooting danmaku at the bat youkai. "Did you get some curse god mad or somethin'?"

Reimu ignored Marisa's jest, the purple-eyed maiden focussing on stopping the irate Kurumi who was now focussed purely on her. Was she not a vampire? Did she hate being called a vampire? Reimu didn't stop firing ofuda at Kurumi, the blonde mostly dodging the holy talismans, though Reimu managed to throw some that she would be unable to dodge. Reimu was certain that either the ofuda would hit and defeat the youkai, or they would snap Kurumi back into her senses and cause the youkai to fly away from her. Instead Kurumi, still blinded and fuelled by her burning anger, shot a laser towards the holy paper, burning it to pieces; absolutely nothing left of the ofuda.

"She can destroy the ofuda?!" Reimu exclaimed.

"Well they are paper..." Genji mumbled, still dodging the lasers and danmaku that Kurumi kept on firing towards them with some mysterious new power. "Even if they are filled with holy power, they are still paper. They may be able to hurt and seal youkai and curses, but they can still be destroyed like most paper."

"Marisa, help me!" Reimu yelled.

"Hmm... nah." Marisa responded, the protégé standing on the marble platform and opening the gate that guarded Mugenkan. "You seem like you got this under control. I'll let you handle the little girl while I kick the ass of whoever is in this mansion."

Kurumi stopped to a halt, the bat youkai no longer firing danmaku at Reimu as she turned a dark eye towards Marisa. "What did you call me?" Kurumi asked in an eerily calm voice that held anger within it.

A large grin appeared on Marisa's face; this was an unexpected variable, but a very welcomed one. "Oh, do you hate being called a little girl?" Marisa said, her smirk widening even further as she saw Kurumi's body shake with rage. "Which do you hate being called even more? Vampire or little girl, Vampire?"

Kurumi's body began to twitch without control as her anger was becoming impossible to contain, her entire body spasming as her eyes glowed a complete red. "I WILL KEEP BOTH OF YOUR CORPSES AS TROPHES!" Kurumi roared, the bat youkai flying towards Marisa with her hands outstretched towards her, roaring like a demon.

Marisa sneered at the livid youkai as she flew towards her ferociously, the magician protégé holding her broomstick by the tip as she stood on the platform. As Kurumi neared, the youkai more focussed on the idea of literally tearing the girl apart with her own hands to use danmaku, Marisa swung her broom towards her like a mallet, the stick object whacking her away as it hit her square in the face, even if it was mostly the fibres at the end. Kurumi flew backwards in the air from the force, the bat youkai stopping herself, still glaring at Marisa for calling her by one of the two words that she hates being called.

Kurumi charged up a magical attack in the form of a sphere, the attack sitting in her palm, but she was suddenly surrounded by multicoloured, glowing spheres. Kurumi looked up, seeing Reimu standing on top of the floating Genji, the shrine maiden trainee being the one behind the spheres.

The spheres all suddenly closed in one Kurumi before she could truly react, creating a large explosion that caused blood to rain everywhere, as the explosion caused by the Fantasy Seal was near the Lake of Blood.

"Good job, Shorty the Eggplant." Marisa said with a jest, the blonde seemingly not bothered by the blood that now covered her from the river. Reimu and Genji floated down to the marble platform, the former hopping off the latter and walking to the other maiden as she stood in front of the open gate. Marisa just continued to grin, holding out an open palm towards Reimu as the shrine maiden trainee walked towards her. "High five!"

"So was that a plan, or was it something you thought up on the spot?" Reimu asked. "Where you really planning on just leaving me, or were you trying to bait Kurumi to you?"

Marisa looked at Reimu, the blonde maiden smiling at the trainee. "A little bit of both, really." Marisa answered casually. "You've already beat worse, so my help or not, you would have still defeated the batty youkai. And if she did some to me, I would hit her in the face with ma broom and we would have defeated her with a surprise attack."

Reimu sighed. "I guess I'll forgive for that." The shrine maiden trainee said. "Do you still have the crystal ball?"

"Yep." Marisa responded, the protégé taking the see-through sphere out from some sort of pocket she had. The arrow in the crystal continued to glow as it pointed towards inside the mansion. Marisa, Reimu and Genji walked towards the closed doors of Mugenkan, the two pieces of fine wood opening rather easily, surprising considering that there was an entire line of defence guarding the lake around it. "Alright, let's loot this place and show this little flower master who's boss!"

The three entered in through the door, seeing the inside of the mansion mostly consisting of a checkerboard floor with pink walls, multiple tables and shelves put up purely for the sake of holding pots that contained flowers of various different kinds, including flowers that don't even look like they are native to Gensokyo.

"Wow, look at all these flowers~." Reimu said, amazed and completely entranced by the many different flowers that decorated the inside of the mansion.

"Damn, wow did the person in charge of this mansion even get some of these?" Marisa asked, the protégé becoming as entranced as the trainee by the pretty colours of the flowers, by their unique patterns, by their designs that were unlike anything else they had never seen before.

"Listen, this isn't the time to focus on flowers." Genji said calmly, snapping the two maidens back into reality. "You can admire the flowers later, but right now we must find who it was that sent the flower towards the Hakurei shrine."

"Oh, right." Reimu and Marisa said, the two maidens looking at the crystal ball and following wherever the arrow within the sphere had pointed them towards. Knowing that we wouldn't be able to follow them with his slow speed on the ground, Genji floated up and flew after them.

* * *

The Hakurei shrine was relatively quiet and peaceful as neither the maiden training to be the next shrine maiden or any of the ancient spirits that guard it were there to protect it. With the exception of a robot maid walking around and repairing all of the hole done to the shrine road, there was completely no sound whatsoever. Not even a single youkai or fairy decided to come by and attack.

Though, that last reason could be because Mima decided to cast some spells that were made specifically to blast away any of the supernatural creatures. After all, it was much easier to find and cast spells made purely for the reasons of getting rid of youkai and fairies than spells that were made for the sake of killing humans.

Maybe that could be a reason why Reimu was able to get to her and defeat her, the ghost pondered. Mima shrugged, the ghost sipping on an illusionary teacup, the action more of a requiem for when she used to actually e able to drink tea than anything else, especially as it was all only an illusion. Mima sat around the kotatsu, constantly alternating whenever she would lay underneath it, sit on top of it, or just lean her back against it. Even if Mima could afford to enjoy some quiet time to herself every once in a while, it was dreadfully boring without Marisa around to teach. Or with Reimu around to annoy. Maybe she could spend some of this time to herself on working on the next scares she'll give to the shrine maiden trainee.

Mima paused, her eyes wide open, the ghost quickly melting into laughter. "Wow, I sure fell far off my throne, didn't I?" Mima laughed, the ghost making her illusion of the teacup dissolve in the air and vanish. Mima calmed down, the ghost making her crescent sceptre appear in her hands. "Maybe, when Reimu and that old fossil return, I'll go and scare some humans. It may be nothing compared to my days as a tyrant that managed to control a certain amount of the world, but it's much more fun than just doing nothing. I don't understand how that princess of the netherworld enjoys just staying in home and eating food."

A portal suddenly opened within the torii gate in front of the Hakurei shrine. Mima looked at the portal with interest, a smile on her face as she knew who would be coming through that portal, the ghost looking forward to the Deva of the Mountain to starve off her boredom for a few minutes. With a snap of her spectral fingers, Mima summoned a banner that hung up on the front of the shrine, the strip of cloth having the words 'WELCOME, KONNGARA' written on it with little doodles of Reimu, Marisa, Genji, Mima and Konngara's heads drawn on.

Konngara passed through the portal between Jigoku and Gensokyo, the oni keeping her eyes closed and a calm expression on her face. Konngara then opened her eyes, the crimson orbs closing in n the green-haired ghost that smiled at her; curved with the slight evil intent that she was infamous for.

"Hello, Konngara." Mima said with faux kindness, giving the ruler of Jigoku a curtsy, though a mocking smile was still on her face. "What brings you here on this fine da-?"

"Mima!" Konngara roared angrily, the oni growing to her true size, the gigantic woman glaring down at the ghost. Konngara raised her hand into the air, a flash of lighting making a katana appear in her hand, the one-horned woman pointing her katana down at Mima, the tip of the giant blade stopping on front of the bored sorceress ghost's face. "What are you doing here? And what have you done to Reimu?!"

"Relax. Relax." Mima responded casually, waving her arms nonchalantly. "And to think that I made a banner for you; created it purely in the span of a second. Oh well, whatever. Anyways, I'm no longer going after power. You could almost say that I've turned over a new leaf, but that isn't the exact case. Reimu isn't here because she and my protégé are going after someone that sent an attack to the shrine."

"Oh really?" Konngara responded sarcastically, not believing the ghost for a second; she has more than enough experience with Mima's infamous lies. The Astral Knight didn't even bother with moving away her katana, or the blade that she kept to Mima's face, the ghost still not intimidated by the weapon. "And who and what is it that attacked the shrine?"

"Don't know." The ghost answered with another nonchalant shrug. "Someone sent a giant flower to attack the shrine. After that, Reimu and my protégé went of to find whoever is behind this current incident."

"Wow, your lies have lost their power." Konngara said, the oni pointing her katana away from Mima, though she kept it pointing near nevertheless. "Do you really believe that I am gullible enough to think that such an obvious lie is the truth?"

"Oh, it is very well the truth, Konngara." A voice said, definitely not Mima's voice. It was from behind Konngara, though the giant oni was rather reluctant to turn around and look at the woman behind the voice. And frankly, Mima didn't really want to speak with the youkai either, even if she was seemingly on her defence.

Truly, there were very few that could really tolerate someone so powerful and so untrustworthy.

Konngara shrunk down to a size more akin to a human adult, allowing Mima to see the particular youkai who has appeared. Mima looked at the youkai as she sat on the rift in reality, her legs crossed as a smile graced her peach lips. Mima's green eyes looked directly into the gold of the other woman's eyes.

"Hello, Yukari..."

* * *

 **There's the battle against Kurumi, though it wasn't exactly as I planned. When I originally wrote the first thousand words or so, I originally intended for this chapter to have an enemy that was completely original, just a youkai in the Garden of the Sun that decided to fight against Reimu and Marisa. But I decided to ditch the idea since I'm intending for the battle against Yuuka to take up two chapters, and I'm intending the chapters that deal with fighting against Mugetsu and Gengetsu to be two separate chapters. Plus, I didn't have any real ideas for the random youkai.**

 **I felt like this battle may have been underwhelming, especially when compared to the previous chapter. I seemed to have suffered from a case of writer's block when making the fight against Kurumi, but I at least had used the fact that youkai are meant to be weak against holy power, and I decided to use Kurumi's two Berserk Buttons (at least in this fanfic's continuity) in the battle, with her getting murderously angry.**

 **As for Yukari, she has decided to make an appearance. This is to stop Mima from interrupting the inevitable battle that the main trio have against Yuuka, while the gap youkai also sheds some light on the flower youkai. Mostly that she's no longer the Ultimate Sadist Creature and is just more of a kind person who is capricious and random.**

 **Also, I forgot to mention in the last chapter that Orange being Taiwanese was 'inspired' (if not downright plagiarised (guilty)) by Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream, because I literally didn't know what else to do with her character. (She's definitely not appearing in my version of Mystic Square)**

 **I also forgot to note that Kana's yelling in the last chapter was meant to be a reference to the 'Will you two shut up?!' scene from The Simpsons. I honestly imagined the poltergeist yelling in Homer's voice...**

 **Anyways, I decided to bring Konngara into this because for some reason when I imagined this specific part of Maiden's Capriccio, I imagined Konngara as being a part of it. Hopefully I can make her relevant and not make it seem like I just brought her back for the sake of being brought back. (Though she'll definitely have a role in the Mystic Square arc, but the importance of it is more up to the readers)**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and allowed.**


	29. Bad Apple!

Yukari sat down on the Gap in space-time, the youkai giving Mima and Konngara a pleasant smile as the two looked at her with emotions that are quite the opposite. "If you're both attempting to get rid of me with those glares, you should give up on such a fruitless effort." Yukari said, the gap youkai reaching into the portal that she was sitting on, bringing out a parasol that she used to shade her head from the sun. "Getting rid of me with just a few mean looks is like try to destroy a mountain with a stick; a regular stick, not one enchanted by magic."

Mima blew air out of her nostrils, even though the meaning of breathing was pointless to someone who's already dead. "I would say that it's a surprise to see you here, but you have always been around the Hakurei family." Mima said, the ghost remembering the many times she came across the youkai being at the shrine on a few occasions when she tried to kill some of the previous shrine maidens. And sometimes, when Mima was successful in killing a Hakurei that Yukari grew fond of, the youkai would always hunt her down for a few days before falling into her lazy nature and giving up. "Though, since you are always keeping an eye on the shrine maidens, I doubt that Reimu is an exception."

"Oh, of course, little Reimu~." Yukari said fondly, her happy expression looking like it's more than for the form of appearance. "Ah yes, she is quite the adorable and powerful little Hakurei, isn't she? And she sure is amazing with that personality of hers, like she doesn't even care if you're a powerful royal or weak peasant, it all seems to be the same in her eyes. Don't you think?"

"If it is indeed the case that you are well aware of Reimu, and that you keep an eye on her, then why are you here?" Mima asked, trying to pry all information that she can out of the enigmatic youkai.

"I'm not keeping an eye on the trainee 24/7, you know. I not only need my valuable sleep, but I have many other important things going on in my life. Important things among important things, too many for me to handle sometimes." Yukari responded, the blonde covering her mouth with her fan. "Besides, I trust that protégé of yours. She likes Reimu and she's got a lot of firepower up her sleeve, the latter being something much more than Genji can do. And I know who the two are facing against, I can assure that they'll be leaving this incident with their lives."

"Oh?" Konngara said, the oni remaining gigantic as she raised an eyebrow at the youkai. "And who may it be that they are fighting?"

"Yuuka Kazami." Yukari responded calmly.

Konngara felt her blood turn as cold as ice, and if Mima still had blood then it would turn as cold as ice itself.

Mima may have been one of the most evil and most dangerous entities of the ancient times, even earning herself the moniker of Mima the Malevolent, but Yuuka Kazami made her look like a pacifist by comparison. She was once an unknown youkai, a green-haired being with exceptional power that just appeared one day. And even though the ancient times in general have been considered as an era of darkness by many, the years that Yuuka Kazami took place in were considered as the darkest years of that era.

Her power had made her nearly unbeatable, and her complete lack of mercy was more than enough to earn her the title of the Ultimate Sadist Creature. The mere thought of what Yuuka did back in those days was enough to send a shiver up Mima's spectral spine; the only reason that she didn't have nightmares of what that woman did in those days was simply that she didn't need to sleep. If it weren't the case, she would have nightmares every night, and she only heard of what Yuuka did.

"Why are we still standing here?!" Konngara yelled, the oni gripping her katana tightly. "Yukari, open a Gap to wherever she is hiding, or wherever Reimu and whoever Mima's protégé is. We got to save them before the Ultimate Sadist Creature does what The Dragon knows what to them!"

As the giant oni was yelling, Mima used her teleportation magic, hoping to appear wherever the three were before it's too late. She would wish what Yuuka was capable of on anyone, not even her worst enemies. However, as magic circled around the spirit, she found that it was suddenly negated by an outside force.

"What the...?" Mima mumbled as she looked at her spectral hands.

"Sorry, but neither of you two will be interrupting." Yukari said, the blonde youkai getting off her Gap as she was becoming serious, the usual and previous lax carelessness in her golden eyes having vanished. "I have manipulated the boundaries of the Hakurei shrine, nothing can get in or out unless I say so; not even teleportation will work. This boundary will remain until Reimu and Marisa return, which they inevitably will do."

Mima once again tried to teleport, only for her to remain in the exact same place. Konngara tried to move away from the Hakurei shrine naturally, only for her to be stopped by an invisible barrier as she reached the borders of the shrine. The former Deva of the Mountain swung at the invisible barrier with all her might, but the invisible force didn't even so much as shake, even with her tremendous strength.

"Have you lost every last aspect of sanity within that empty head of yours, you old hag?!" Mima yelled angrily, the ground beneath her cracking as she released her magic power, her sceptre materialising in her hands as she pointed the crescent towards the youkai. "You have until the count of three to undo this boundary. I will _not_ let Marisa become a victim to the Ultimate Sadist Creature."

Yukari smirked at Mima. "Did you forget?" The youkai asked the ghost. "Killing is a meaningless action against a youkai, especially one who also control the boundaries of life and death."

Mima shot Yukari's head with a beam of magic, the blonde's head exploding into tiny pieces, her headless body falling down dead. Mima sat on her tail, knowing that Yukari would come back by her natural youkai powers alone as the rest of her body evaporated into the air.

"My now, you're a little more blood-thirsty than usual." Yukari said, the youkai having not only resurrected but now sitting on the roof of the Hakurei shrine.

Konngara shrunk down to a regular human size, jumping onto the roof and pointing her katana at Yukari, not that the youkai was scared in any shape or form. "Why would you dare to allow them to fight the Ultimate Sadist Creature?" The angry oni asked, Mima appearing by her side as she too wanted the gap youkai to answer.

"It is a simple answer, Konngara." Yukari responded casually, effortlessly batting away the katana pointed towards her. "You see, Yuuka is no longer the sadist that she used to be. In fact, she is now far from a sadist."

* * *

Marisa and Reimu (on top of Genji) were zipping through the hallways of Mugenkan, the pink inside of the mansion and the flowers that decorated the interior of the mansion were but a blur of a watercolour world as they flew to find the person behind the Bewitching Lotus Flower and the sudden craziness of the fairies.

Though that objective was currently a little hard to achieve as Mugenkan was given defences on the inside as well. These were in the forms of round, blobby... thingies that can use danmaku. The black thingies shot white danmaku at the two maidens, the two maidens firing back.

"Just what are these creatures?" Reimu asked as she used the holy danmaku of her Yin-Yang Orbs to fire away at the black things.

"I have no idea, Lady Reimu." Genji responded, flying out of the way of the simple danmaku that they used, much easier to dodge than the more complicated danmaku used by the fairies.

"Whatever they are, they ain't tough." Marisa said as she used lasers and star-shaped danmaku to destroy them. "They're just cannon fodder. Shoot and go on to the next."

Green magic circles appeared up ahead, shooting green lasers and green danmaku towards Reimu, Genji and Marisa. The holy duo and Marisa flew out of the way, the magic circles disappearing as other green circles appeared, usually repeating the same attack as the last pair of magic circles.

More black creatures appeared from out of nowhere, firing white pellets towards the incident resolvers, though instead of the regular pattern of a few bullets in a simple pattern, these were instead fired in a pattern of an expanding circle.

The three managed to avoid the danmaku and shoot down the odd creatures, the three then coming across something that was arguably more weird or less weird than the black thingies. It was a black mirror outlined by a blue, crystal frame, having a tail with spikes that looked like a ribcage, having two black tentacle-like appendages on each side, with large, black devil-like wings that flapped as it flew around.

 **Reflection of Darkness' Beauty**

 **Dark Mirror**

Knives began to shoot out of the black mirror, flying through the air. Marisa and Genji lowered down to the ground as the black weapons shot towards them, Reimu and Marisa fired danmaku at the Dark Mirror, the magical object turning around, showing that it was flat; so flat that it would be nearly impossible to see if looked from its side. With its thin side, the mirror was able to easily slip through the danmaku, turning around again and facing the magical maidens, firing waves of white danmaku in dense patterns.

Marisa fired at the mirror with full force, only for the same mirror to spin around away. The Dark Mirror then pointed its tentacle-like appendages towards Marisa, firing yellow lasers towards the sorceress. Marisa flew out of the way, the lasers grazing at her body. Reimu fired ofuda at the Dark Mirror, the living object flying out of the way of the holy charms.

"Flashing Comet!" Marisa yelled, the magician becoming surrounded by a blue glow, shooting across the air and hitting the Dark Mirror. The black mirror within the creature cracked, the youkai (?) falling to the ground, all life lost in the item. Reimu, Marisa and Genji blinked as they looked at the mirror, surprised that it was defeated rather easily upon being hit.

"Well... that was disappointing." Marisa commented, the blonde looking back at the holy duo. "C'mon, lets get there and show this plant fanatic who's boss."

They went further through the endless hallway of Mugenkan, the concept of a Tardis space - of a place that is illogically larger on the inside than it is on the outside, whenever it deserves it or not - having lost its novelty. Reimu wouldn't even be surprised if she came across many more places of this sort in the future.

They came across a door, the wooden barrier being opened with ease, only to lead to another hallway. Though this hallway was vastly bigger than the previous one; for elaboration, even though the previous hallway was large enough for Reimu and Genji and Marisa to not only fly side by side, but even have a total of four clones of them all fit there. This one could fit at least twice or three times that number, even with the rows of flowers that took up space on both sides.

"Wow, a lot of people in Gensokyo are capable of making anything large enough on the inside for it to fit inside itself." Reimu commented as they flew even further through the hybrid of a hallway and garden, the many, more mundane-looking flowers almost merging with each other as they sped through. Like the previous room, this one seemed to stretch without end. "I really hope that I can learn how to do this little trick, it sometimes feels like the shrine is too small."

"Unless if such an ability is another one of the mysteries of the Yin-Yang Orb, or you learn magic and proceed to learn the spell, I doubt that you will be able to do that, Lady Reimu." Genji said.

Reimu suddenly felt something hot hit her in the side, the purple-haired maiden tumbling off the flying turtle, her body bouncing against the floor as she was repeatedly slammed against it until she finally stopped; the momentum tossing her like a ragdoll having lost energy and died.

Reimu laid on the checkerboard floor on her side, letting out a his as the hit area still burned. The shrine maiden trainee clutching the burning part of her body with both hands, turning her head towards the area where both hands were with slow, shaky movement. Slowly, with reluctance, Reimu removed her hands. She was struck in an area where her kimono and hakama had met, the white and red being burnt black by the attack. It seemed like the mysterious attack had also put a wound in her, but the exact same attack had already cauterized the wound.

Reimu pushed herself up, looking around to see that Genji and Marisa were nowhere in sight. They were going incredibly fast, so even if they had already noticed that she had fallen off, it would still take them a certain while before they would reach back here again.

Reimu looked around again, seeing that she was alone; only her and the flowers surrounding her. And yet, it felt like there were hundreds of eyes staring at her.

The shrine maiden trainee kept her gohei out, her ofuda tight between her fingers, and the Yin-Yang Orb duplicates floating around her. At the very least, she could still summon Sin and Gyoku if she felt lonely. Though she would nevertheless have to wait until Marisa or Genji returned to fight the mastermind behind today's incident. Because, despite everything, despite how strong she has grown, Reimu is still incapable of flying.

A shiver's icy fingers crawled all around Reimu's body like an army of spiders, causing her body to shake without control. The sensation of being watched was growing stronger with each passing second.

Reimu darted her eyes around the impossibly and needlessly long hallway, still seeing not another living soul in sight. The only other things within the hybrid were flowers.

The shrine maiden trainee could definitely feel a something fly up from behind her, a certain kind of magic power charge up from that something. Reimu turned around, seeing a sunflower that was suddenly stretching out to her. The sunflower made a movement back as the maiden was now aware of it. The petals quickly spun around anticlockwise as the centre with the seeds had seemingly spun clockwise, an bright yellow glow came from the area where the seeds were.

The sunflower fired bright yellow danmaku towards Reimu in the form of seeds, the trainee making a backflip to jump out of the way of the danmaku. Reimu threw an ofuda at the centre of the attacking flower, exploding in an instant, leaving the poor thing without a head. The lone stem fell down limply, all life taken away from the plant.

Reimu looked at the rest of the flowers in the garden, instantly the other flowers shot up with life, many sunflowers spinning their centres and petals as they glowed yellow, shooting out danmaku that was enough to burn skin towards the shrine maiden trainee. Reimu ran across the checkerboard floor, sliding around and firing holy danmaku and ofuda at the flowers. They were at least much weaker than the Bewitching Lotus Flower, as even the holy danmaku could defeat them in only a few seconds, and the ofuda even destroyed them in one hit.

"What are with these? Are they sunflowers or something that looks like sunflowers?" Reimu asked as she looked around, more flowers coming to life and attacking her.

The first were these flowers that were attached to green stalks with red thorns sticking out of the, the red petals that surrounded their faces opening up to reveal that the aforementioned faces were yellow. And that they had large mouths with rows of sharp teeth that look like they could easily cut through and crush Reimu's bones...

If they weren't so small that Reimu could hold about four or five of their heads in her hand. They were easily swatted away with Reimu's gohei, the flowers weakly becoming defeated with ease. Then two more rose from one of the gardens, being far larger than the ones that came before them; big enough to fit Reimu's entire body in their yellow heads.

Drool escaped from their mouths as they roared at the shrine maiden trainee, lunging towards her. Reimu jumped into the air as one tried to eat her in a single bite, only getting a mouthful of marble floor. The other man-eating plant came towards Reimu as she was still airborne, the shrine maiden trainee grabbing onto one of the Yin-Yang Orb, calling out whichever of the twin spirits was within the duplicate. Sin appeared from the glowing piece of the Yin-Yang Orb, the red-haired priestess shooting powerful red danmaku at the oncoming flower, causing it to back away. almost like it was in pain.

Can flowers feel pain? That was a question that Reimu thought she would never ponder.

The flower that tried to eat Reimu spat out the floor pieces that it ate instead, seemingly looking forward towards Reimu, even though it didn't have any eyes. It let out a loud roar, its mouth opened wide to show a seemingly endless row of sharp teeth with webbings of saliva over them, a deep, dark hole that seemed to lead down to nowhere was at the end of its 'throat'.

Reimu pointed a palm towards the roaring flower, firing out one of her artificial yin-yang. The man-eating creature easily ate the yin-yang in a single gulp. Reimu focussed her power on the yin-yang that she created, making it burst outwards into many more yin-yang. Tiny yin-yang all shot out of the head of the red-petalled creature that was attacking Reimu (well, one of them), the hole-filled creature falling down dead.

"Right, that's one down." Reimu said, turning around the other man-eating flower, the aforementioned creature growling at her hungrily and angrily. "Another to go."

The plant shot itself towards Reimu, roaring with its wide mouth open. Reimu jumped and spun out of the way of the flower, throwing ofuda at the side of its face. The flower roared in pain, allowing Reimu to attack it further by swinging her gohei at it. Surprisingly, that attack was enough to do the creature in, the top half of its face coming off as the holy wand was hit against it with all the force in the little maiden.

Reimu blinked in surprise, looking down at the gohei in her hand. Either that flower was surprisingly weak, or Reimu is stronger than she looks. Frankly, either could be the truth.

More and more flowers began attacking, tiny flowers with heads the size of the pads of Reimu's finger shot green bullets towards her, medium-sized blue flowers shot large, bubble-shaped danmaku, dark purple flowers that blew some gases the same colour as their petals, etc.

Reimu pinched her nose and put an ofuda over her mouth, hoping that the paper talisman will not only stop the purple gas (whenever it could be something from a sleeping gas or poison) but even destroy it, if this is a result of youkai magic. The shrine maiden trainee continued to dodge the flowers and shoot more danmaku and ofuda towards them, though it seemed like more and more of them grew from the flowers that were defeated; like they were some sort of hydra.

Reimu was becoming caved by the danmaku, swatting away at the danmaku that came near her, though the danmaku kept coming at all sides, it was becoming nearly impossible to actually fight against such an overwhelming force. Reimu kept an ofuda tight between her index and middle finger, the maiden preparing to use the holy charm as a conductor for when she unleashes a Fantasy Seal against the evil garden.

There was suddenly a spark in the distance, from where Reimu and the others were going - presumably, it was almost indistinguishable to know which way was which anymore.

"Stardust Reverie!" Marisa shouted, the magician's spell turning the ceiling into a view of outer space. Multicoloured danmaku stars shot out of the transformed ceiling, hitting the flowers. The garden was caught on fire, the plants screaming in pain as they died out. The purple gas seemed to die with the flowers that created it, allowing Reimu take off the ofuda that she stuck to her mouth.

Reimu looked forwards to see where Marisa's voice came from, seeing the aforementioned protégé and Genji appear, though it looked like they too had gone through a fight. Genji was covered in bruises and cuts, though his abilities were allowing him to heal from all of the wounds. As for Marisa, it looked like some damage was done to her clothes, particularly her skirt, and her hair was a little out of place, though that was where it ended for her.

"I'm so sorry that I didn't come here for you earlier, Lady Reimu!" Genji cried, the turtle immediately flying towards the shrine maiden trainee, sobbing into the side of her neck as he seemingly hugged her. "We were moving so fast that by the time we noticed you disappeared, we were already far away, and then we were attacked suddenly by the flowers."

"I know, I was also attacked by the flowers." Reimu mumbled, the shrine maiden trainee looking at Marisa as she was the only one of the two that could fly that still looked hurt (as Genji had completely healed). "Jeez, it looks like those flowers roughed you up good."

"Yeah, they did." Marisa said, as her broomstick floated in front of Reimu, her dangling feet inches above the ground. "I was just flyin', then Fossil Face stopped 'cause you fell of, then some sunflowers started shooting at me, and a ton more flowers came to life, and then I got hit. And after I defeated them with a good ol' Stardust Reverie, I had to use another one because it looked like you were about to lose to them. If it weren't for me, you'd probably be their compost by now."

"Yes, I get it." Reimu responded, huffing as Marisa probably won't let her forget about all the saves she pulled off until a few years have passed. "Let's just go forward, we can probably find whoever is behind all of this flower stuff and defeat them."

"I apologise, but you can't do that just yet." A calm and sweet voice said from within the darkness. Everyone looked, preparing to attack. Something circular and spinning shot out of the darkness, passing to fast for Reimu to see anything about it that was different from what was already described. Whatever it was, it must have been sharp, as Genji was cut vertically in half by the middle. The turtle's two separated body parts fell down to the ground, disappearing into the air before they could even make a little squeak of a thud against the ground.

The sharp, spinning object returned to the darkness, going back the same way. It disappeared back into the darkness, a sound echoing from it that hinted that it could have been caught.

"Who's there?" Reimu asked calmly, pointing her ofuda towards the darkness. She wasn't too concerned with the apparent death of Genji. Even if he's not a youkai, he's still an immortal, supernatural being; as long as his mind remains, he can recreate his body whole. "What are you? Just show yourself and we can end this soon with your defeat."

"I apologise, but I am also a part of Lady Yuuka's 'game', I must fight you both." The voice said again, followed by the sounds of footsteps as the female figure showed herself. She looked like a teenager, wearing big dress and a hat with a ribbon, her hair was yellow like the sun and in the form of curls. She was holding a scythe that looked like it was bigger than her, while also having an odd curve shape, the long, wooden handle resting against her shoulder; it honestly contrasted the kindly smile and appearance that she had. She grabbed the side of her skirt with the hand that wasn't keeping hold of the scythe, performing a curtsy. She also had some sort of pendant around her neck; a golden chain that allowed a glass ball with a green glow to hang from her neck. "Do not worry, even though I am a reaper of souls, I will not kill you. You are merely forced into my mistress' 'game' and are mortal, it is simply not either of your times yet."

 **Perdition Reaper that Guards the Dreamer's Home**

 **Elly**

"Wait. 'Reaper of souls'? A youkai-like energy? You're a shinigami, aren't you?" Reimu said, pointing at the scythe-wielding blonde.

"Yes, I am." Elly responded calmly, the shinigami keeping her pleasant smile. "I am sorry if you are afraid of me, but as one of Lady Yuuka's servants, I'm afraid that I must fight you. You are not allowed to simply cease 'playing' the 'game', but Lady Yuuka will accept you not fighting her if you lose to me."

"You think I'm afraid of you because you're a god of death?!" Reimu yelled, pointing her ofuda towards the shinigami. "I have already fought against a giant that rules over a section of Hell, an angel of death, an immensely powerful sorcerer ghost and an Outsider that can cross over dimensions. I beat them all, and I'm not afraid. I'll defeat this Lady Yuuka, and I'll defeat you if you stand in the way."

"Ah, I see." Elly said, looking away from the shrine maiden trainee and towards the magic user beside her. "I know that you are not the one that Lady Yuuka originally wanted to 'play' with, but I can tell that you also want to fight, don't you?"

"Hell yeah, I want to fight!" Marisa yelled, a wide smirk on her face as she pointed her magic wand towards the death god. "I'm not just gonna walk outta this fun little adventure like a coward just 'cause you have that glorified knife of yours. I've trained under the great Madam Mima herself; I'm her protégé. And I'm just as strong as Reimu! I'm gonna beat you up before you can do anything about it."

"I see, so you are both confident." Elly responded calmly, the shinigami outstretching a hand towards them, her fingers tightened into a fist, with the exception of her middle and index fingers, which pointed out towards them. A serious expression decorated her face, her amber eyes showing a look that had neither the seeming kindness from before, though there was no barbaric savagery in them either. "Even though I will still restrain in my powers that can kill you, I will not make this battle easy either. I am stronger than Kurumi, who I know that you two have fought earlier. Do not deny it, I have seen it myself."

Some of the tiles between Elly and the maiden duo floated up, the clay slabs flying towards them as projectiles.

"Jeez, this isn't really all that strong." Marisa commented, the spellcaster flying into the air, avoiding most of the many tile projectiles that Elly was using through telekinesis (?).

Reimu, on the other hand, was having some trouble, the shrine maiden trainee having to destroy some of the clay attacks coming her way by smashing them with her gohei. This aforementioned tactic seemed to be working fine on its own, but Elly sent more and more tiles towards the purple-haired maiden, sending more than one at a time, all at different angles. Reimu then took out an ofuda from within one of her sleeves, holding it out in front of her, the paper glowing with holy power. A translucent, square shield appeared in front of Reimu in a blue colour, protecting the maiden as the clay projectiles smashed against it.

There was no longer any floor between Elly and the two incident resolvers; only a muddy ground where not even grass was grown.

"You shall face me further." Elly said, the fair-haired shinigami floating up in the air, still keeping her hand on the scythe that she kept around her shoulder throughout the entire preliminary battle.

Reimu looked back, expecting to find Genji, only to see that the immemorial entity wasn't there, her eyes widening. "Wait, where's Gramps?" Reimu asked, causing Marisa and Elly to look at her, the former surprised and confused, though the latter was not. "Gramps? Gramps? Hey, where'd you wonder to, Gramps? Genji?!"

"Oh, that is explainable." Elly answered, the shinigami grabbing the clear ball of a green glow and holding it out, though she kept the connected chain around her neck. "This green energy within the pendant is your turtle, he didn't have the offensive power that Lady Yuuka is interested in, unlike you two. For now, he is forced out of the battle. Don't worry, he is unaware of everything that is happening while in this stasis."

"Give Genji back right now!" Reimu yelled angrily, the maiden jumping up and down as she was beneath the floating death god, though she was nowhere near Elly, no matter how much she jumped in the air. "Give him now, you creepy reaper of life!"

"You must defeat me." Elly responded, the yellow-eyed porter flying away at the double. "Break the pendant and you will release him...!"

"Hey, get back here!" Reimu yelled, running after the quick-flying grim reaper, though she was too slow for her.

"You know, you can't follow after her by using those feet of yers." Marisa said, the magus lowering her broomstick to the ground, allowing Reimu to join her on the wooden platform. Reimu stopped, looking at the magical human. "C'mon, we both know this broom can fly both of us, and it ain't like you're using up energy by having Fossils fly. Just hop on and we'll get there."

Reimu didn't defy or complain, the shrine maiden trainee sitting on the extra space on the broom, the two flying off after the shinigami. Though neither of them showed it, a thought did enter itself into the backs of their minds, maybe even their subconsciousness; if this Yuuka is powerful enough to have a death god as her housekeeper, then just how tremendously powerful is she.

* * *

 **Okay, so first things first, this chapter was originally thought of as being one where Reimu and Marisa fight against Elly, but with the moment between Yukari, Mima and Konngara at the beginning, the duo/trio fighting against the others within the mansion (including the flowers I've created, which honestly make sense, with Yuuka's little flower motif), and then the meeting with Elly, this chapter was honestly a little too long.**

 **Though I've already made chapters that are well over 10,000+ words (including one in this), I still want to keep to the 5,000 words limit that I've self-imposed for this story. So I decided that this chapter is sort of filler, and Reimu and Marisa won't fight Elly until the next chapter.**

 **As you've noticed, this chapter has had Elly take Genji out of the battle, though only really for her battle. I don't exactly know why, but whilst writing this chapter that was a thought that entered my head, so now Genji is left out of the battle.**

 **This might make the battle against Elly a little unique, outside of the fact that she controls tiles and uses a boomeranging scythe. Oh well, Genji will return for the battle against Yuuka.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	30. Rondo of Perdition

Marisa and Reimu sped through the air as they rode on the former's broom, making quick and reactive dodges of the constant danmaku shot towards them by the sentient, magical flowers, the duo firing danmaku at the plants, destroying them. Marisa kept a large grin on her face, enjoying the thrill with large quantities of adrenaline pumping inside her bloodstream, having the time of her life as she followed Elly, the expeditious shinigami having no trouble keeping her distance from the two, especially as the flowers were more of on her side.

"Hey, you coward!" Marisa yelled as the other blonde, waving around her wand as she summoned lasers to shoot down red and yellow flowers that were breathing fire at her and Reimu. "Why don't you stop running away and fight us already? Huh, whazzat? Are you sayin' that you're some sort of scarred chicken?"

"I am not doing this because of fear, I'm doing this because this hallway is simply too small." Elly responded calmly, the death god flying towards a door that she knows leads to a large room; she has been working in this mansion for so long, she knows the way around it like the back of her hand. "Flowers, cease your attack. They are here to play Lady Yuuka's game, and as a part of her team, I shall fight them in my own arena!"

It seemed like the sentient flowers had heard the shinigami and reacted accordingly, the living plants stopping their assault on Reimu and Marisa and simply resuming what they were doing earlier: sitting there.

Elly opened two large doors made of some fine-looking wood, the blonde reaper entering without closing them behind her. Not really questioning what was going on, Marisa and Reimu flew into the room that Elly had entered, the shinigami on the other side, looking at them.

"You have fought well, so far." Elly said, the shinigami having a kind and impressed smile on her face, though Reimu didn't care; the shrine maiden trainee was merely focussing on the item around Elly's neck, the item that was keeping Genji in a sleep that he couldn't wake from, or something of that kind. Without any visible effort, Elly no longer kept the scythe resting against her shoulder, the shinigami holding the large weapon out in front of herself, towards the two maidens. "However, like I have said, I am stronger than Kurumi; we have fought many times, and I've always won. I will restrain from using my ability to reap your souls, but I will still hold back near to none."

"Blah blah blah. Yap yap yap." Marisa responded, the magician moving her fingers in a way that mimicked someone talking. "Jeez, if you're really so strong then just fight us and show us what you got. Instead, all you're doing is just running away and boasting about your strength. Well, why don't you do it, huh? Show us what you got!"

Elly gave Marisa a slight glare, her lemony eyes boring into Marisa, the magician remaining unaffected by the shinigami's eyes. Usually whenever a human is glared at by a reaper of souls, they run away in fear, but not this girl. She's either very brae or very stupid.

"Very well then. I will show you just how strong I really am." Elly responded with calm intensity, the shinigami throwing her scythe towards Marisa and Reimu. The duo flew out of the way of the attack effortlessly, proceeding to fire danmaku at Elly. The woman dodged the bullets with ease, making the tiles on the ground fly up and fly towards the two. Marisa fired lasers out of her wand, destroying a few of the clay projectiles, sometimes in rows. Other tiles came at the two from different angles, but they were counteracted by Reimu as she threw ofuda at them.

"Wow, is this really the best you got?" Marisa asked, smirking at Elly; the reaper suspiciously keeping herself calm. In fact, a smug smile itself seemed to grace her lips. "Right now that Kurumi person is proving to be easier than you, and she was pretty easy."

"Yeah, I must admit that you're rather weak from what I expected." Reimu admitted as she fired holy danmaku and ofuda at the shinigami, though Elly had effortlessly countered them with her own danmaku; the simple plain white colour.

Elly's smirk became much more noticeable now. "You really shouldn't make first impressions of those that you meet, nor should you underestimate your foes." The gold-haired girl responded, her smug smile turning a little creepy, all while keeping the smugness in it. "It can come with some very unpreferable consequences."

Reimu suddenly heard the sound of the air cutting, a memory triggering within her from a few seconds ago. The shrine maiden trainee's amethyst eyes widened as she was catching on, the maiden turning her head back to see something coming towards her. It was hard to tell what she was looking at, as it was rather flat, but she could still guess what it is.

"Marisa, lower this thing!" Reimu yelled at the blonde spellcaster that she was right behind, causing the girl to cover her ears with her hands in response. Marisa looked back at Reimu, a mixture of annoyance and confusion on her face. "Lower this thing now before we are cut in half by Elly's scythe!"

Marisa's eyes widened as she listened to Reimu, the magician also catching sight of the weapon flying towards them both. Seeing as she was the one giving the broomstick the magical power to fly, Marisa was able to lower them two down, though the sharp blade still managed to graze both the top of Marisa and Reimu's head, albeit without any damage.

"Oi! I thought you said you weren't going to kill us!" Marisa yelled, waving her fist angrily at Elly. "Don't you shinigami keep promises that you make?!"

"I only really promised that I wouldn't use my power to reap your souls, and that attack definitely wasn't fatal; it will merely scratch and cut you, but it will do nothing fatal. And it is the oni that you may be believing as ones who keep their promises." Elly responded, the shinigami preparing to throw her boomerang scythe towards the two maidens again, though she noticed something that got caught on the blade. "Oh, what's this? My scythe must have accidently gotten this hat when it flew over your head."

Marisa raised an eyebrow as she saw what was on Elly's scythe, being big and purple with a piece of the blade sticking through it, near the edge of the thing. Marisa's eyes widened as she realised what it was, the blonde reaching her hand over her head and patting her scalp. There was nothing.

"You took my hat!" Marisa yelled, the now angry witch pointing her magic wand at the shinigami. "Feel the wrath of the protégé of Mima! Roar of Heaven!"

A large bolt of thunder shot out of Marisa's wand, the giant attack of electric power hitting Elly as it moved with unpredicted speed, a huge bang reverberating throughout Mugenkan. A loud and reverberating bang that made a certain, sleeping someone wake from their peaceful rest.

"I think you went overboard there." Reimu commented, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her head as she saw the fire that the piece of the mansion's interior that was on fire in front of her, the shrine maiden trainee finding it to be rather ridiculous that Marisa would go to such extremes because of an accidently stolen hat. Sure, she would react the same if her ribbon was stolen or damaged, but she didn't expect anything to really matter to the blonde, unless if it had something to do with Mima.

"Hey, that hat was something from Mima. I even think that she made it herself." Marisa responded. Ah, now it all does make sense to Reimu. "She should have known better than to not only take it, but damage it as well."

"Huh." Reimu responded simply in a plain voice. "And did you forget that she was holding Gramps hostage?"

"Oh, don't get your holy panties in a twist." Marisa responded to the maiden behind her with a simple and dismissive handwave. "Fossil Face can regenerate himself from nothing, or somethin' like that. He should just regenerate and come out of that just fine."

Suddenly, Marisa's hat fell back down onto her head lightly, the aforementioned spellcaster and her friend becoming surprised.

"That was quite the attack you gave me, did some good damage as well. Though it was far from being strong enough to defeat me." Elly responded, the shinigami floating over the two maidens. She was mildly damaged, with some minor cuts and bruises to her body and some tears in her clothes. She was sitting on the air, keeping her scythe resting against her shoulder once again. They noticed that the golden-eyed reaper was looking at the burning area she was hit, causing Reimu and Marisa to look there as well.

They saw multiple light-blue flowers with outstretched stalks in front of the fire, spraying a light-blue gas that extinguished the fires. Soon the fire was gone, leaving only a scorched area.

Reimu and Marisa looked at Elly, the grim reaper fiddling with the pendant between her fingers, the see-through item still glowing with green energy. Elly looked down at the two maidens, sending a small smile towards the purple-haired shrine maiden trainee.

"Sorry, but you're going to have to try harder to release your flying turtle." The shinigami said, flying away from the two until she was still a noticeable distance from them, familiar sunflowers rose out from the ground, the living, magical flowers pointing towards the maiden duo. "We shinigami are hard to defeat. We are not only very strong, but we are hard to kill. Even if you don't wish to kill us, we don't succumb to pain, and our bodies are much like that of a youkai; born of our incorporeal minds."

"Sheesh, is talking someone to death a new tactic that you shinigami use to kill people?" Marisa said, purposely rolling her eyes in an over the top manner. "If you ask me, just use the blade. It's much quicker and merciful."

"Doesn't Mima talk a lot...?" Reimu asked from behind the blonde magic apprentice, a large drop of sweat falling down the side of her head. "I thought you would except being talked to a lot... more than this."

"Note to self: never make a joke around the Eggplant, they go over her head." Marisa responded, pressing her finger against her forehead.

"You two should save your arguing for latter." Elly said, the petals of the sunflowers spinning at rapid speeds. The grim reaper raised her scythe from sitting on her shoulder, pointing the weapon towards Reimu and Marisa...? The curved design of the scythe made it a little difficult to tell. Elly squeezed her hand tight, square tiles rose from the ground and spun around in place, no doubt also going to be used as projectiles. "Currently I am the one you two are meant to be facing. If you wish to have a kerfuffle, please wait until after you finished playing Lady Yuuka's game."

"Ha, I can argue with Reimu and fight you and your lady at the same time!" Marisa boasted, pointing her magical wand at the shinigami with a sure smile on her face. "I am Marisa Kirisame, an ordinary magician; an ordinary magician that will kick your immortal ass! Omnidirectional Concerto!"

Magic circles of a blue colour shined into existence around Elly and the sunflowers, trapping the death god and the living flowers in a seemingly inescapable cage of magic. "Oh, an easily destroyable magic attack." Elly commented, not at all fearful of the spell Marisa placed around her. "Allow me to show you what my few centuries of experience have helped me with."

Elly swung her scythe towards Marisa, the crooked weapon destroying the magical circles that were in its way. Marisa widened her eyes as the scythe came closer and closer, the mage unable to think up a way to avoid the attack that she was certain wasn't going to happen.

"Marisa, look out!" Reimu yelled. Knowing that the magician wasn't going to react in time, the shrine maiden trainee lunged towards the magician in front of her, causing her to lose her focus on the broomstick she was riding. Marisa grabbed the front of her broom as she and Reimu were about to fall as she was no longer focussing her magic on the otherwise regular item to keep them both in the air. In that span of time, the two maidens dipped downwards in the air, allowing them both to be sparred of what damage the deadly-looking weapon could do to them.

Unfortunately, this lose of focus that Reimu caused on her friend had also caused Marisa to lose focus of her Omnidirectional Concerto spell, thus all of the magic circles dimmed out of existence. Elly continued to float in the same spot, still surrounded by ally sunflowers and square tiles.

"Like I said," She spoke, pointing her fingers towards the duo of maidens. "That attack was easily destroyable. Fire!"

The sunflowers began to shoot out their seed-like danmaku that was hot to the touch, the tiles being controlled by Elly through one way or another went in labyrinthine patterns, and the shinigami herself threw her boomerang-like scythe towards the two maidens.

"Crap, hold tight, Reimu!" Marisa said as she squeezed both hands around the tip of her broom, the magician protégé and shrine maiden trainee flying through the air at high speeds, avoiding the plant danmaku, tiles and scythe.

Luckily, it seemed that despite the fact that Elly had control over the tiles, she couldn't control where her scythe flew towards through an invisible control either. At least Reimu and Marisa don't need to fear being chased by the deadly-looking weapon. It was also becoming apparent that Elly was running out of tiles on the floor to use, though the death god merely resorted to using her plain white danmaku.

"Geez, she's really pulling out all the stops here, and she ain't even the true culprit." Maris commented, summoning two small magic spheres, the spheres firing out lasers towards the flowers and Elly while Marisa did the same, albeit with star-shaped danmaku. "Hey, Eggplant, you got something in mind?"

Reimu was silent, the shrine maiden trainee focussing on the sunflowers that Elly was using against her and her friend. The trainee quickly threw ofuda towards the living plants, the paper charms making an explosion of holy power that destroyed the heads of each respective sunflower.

"That was something that I had in my mind." Reimu responded.

"My, it seems as though you two are stronger than I originally thought." Elly said, the shinigami summoning skulls surrounded by a green, mist-like energy. "But don't be fooled, even with the aid that I have from this mansion being destroyed, I am still a strong opponent."

Elly sent the flying skulls towards Marisa and Reimu, the former having to fly both of them out of the way, as she was the only one that could fly. "Now you're using skulls? You really are a death god." Marisa commented as she and Reimu shot danmaku at the skulls, destroying them, though more kept on coming; Elly was summoning many more into existence.

* * *

"So, what do you mean that Yuuka is now far from a sadist?" Konngara asked, the ruler of Jigoku sitting at Reimu's kotatsu, along with Mima and Yukari. The oni and the spirit had obvious distrust written over their faces, and Yukari didn't really mind it. "Did you forget about the horrors she committed in the past? Endless innocent lives that she targeted, purely so she could enjoy seeing them cry as she took the last remaining shreds of their life from them? Or what about the villages, the civilizations that she razed in the blink of an eye? Did you forget that those were merely the tip of the iceberg of what she has done?!"

"I think what the barbarian is trying to get across is that Yuuka being good now is a lie that stinks so much, you could smell it from the moon." Mima said, the ghost having to use all the willpower in her spectral being to not choke the life out of Yukari for the umpteenth time these last few minutes for sending one of the few people she actually cares about to fight one of the most infamous beings in history.

"I know. I know." Yukari responded, the youkai opening a small Gap behind her back to lean against. She had one eye closed while the other was open, the golden optic organ looking at the two angry women. Yukari was just utterly carefree. "It sounds like a joke you would tell at a party, doesn't it? But, as unbelievable as it sounds, Yuuka has indeed ceased to be the Ultimate Sadist Creature."

"Like your saying she's suddenly a good girl that wouldn't hurt a fly?" Mima asked sarcastically. "Even _I_ have a far higher chance of redemption than what she did."

"And it's not like you're the most trustworthy being in existence either." Konngara said to Yukari, the Astral Knight almost incredulous that she would actually side with someone that caused terror wherever she went in the days of yore. "The hole you dug with your lies and deceit is deeper than the Sanzu River. It is almost a sin with all the lies you tell."

"Almost? I thought that those lies of mine would have been added to the long list of sins I have..." Yukari mumbled, the blonde quickly returning to the subject at hand. "Of course I am one that shouldn't be trusted, but you may finally believe me when Reimu and Marisa return with only a few scratches at the most."

"Even then, why should we trust your word now?" Konngara asked, the oni rubbing the handle of her sword, the thought of beheading the youkai in front of her still being rather tempting. It wouldn't really help, especially as this is Yukari, but it would at least give her a small ounce of catharsis.

"Yuuka's past actions are... irredeemable, at best. I will admit that. And even though she isn't exactly right in the head, she is still able to regret those actions of hers." Yukari responded, opening a small Gap and putting her hand in it. She pulled her hand back out, a cup of piping hot tea in her hand. Ignoring the high-pitched yell of indignance that seemed to come from a young girl, Yukari closed the Gap. She blow on the hot drink before taking a sip. "Even though there is really no excuse, even though she'll be lucky if her eternal resting place is something that is even slightly less bad than the deepest, darkest, hottest put of Hell, Yuuka's actions were more caused by a twisted view of the world that she gained from her past."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Konngara asked. "And why do I smell blood in your tea?"

"You see, before she became a youkai... Yuuka was treated badly since the beginning of her existence." Yukari explained, her usually carefree eyes becoming filled with a solemn look. "After I fought against her, back when she was the Ultimate Sadist Creature, I managed to get a look into her past as I was about to undo her very existence from the core of her being. It seemed as though she was the plaything of the previous Ultimate Sadist Creature. Unlike the others, she had survived until the end of the past Ultimate Sadist Creature. But what she had gone through in her life... it caused her to not know what mercy was from the very concept."

Mima and Konngara were silent, listening to Yukari's story. Even though they didn't have any doubt that she was lying, it didn't change that anything that suffered throughout who knows how many years by the hands of a previous Ultimate Sadist Creature deserved their sympathy, even if she herself is an infamous Ultimate Sadist Creature.

"After learning about what turned Yuuka into the monster she was those many, many years ago, I decided to give her mercy. Her so-called 'disappearance' was merely me taking her away to my home and keeping her secret." Yukari continued, finishing the last of her tea and opening a small Gap once again, the same angry voice of a little girl coming once again from the hole in reality. Yukari ignored the yelling, taking her empty hand out of the Gap and closing it. "For a few years, I have been fixing Yuuka through multiple methods. She is without a doubt a lot stronger than she was during her Ultimate Sadist Creature era, but she is also a lot more sane and kind than that time. At worst, she just makes morbid jokes."

Mima and Konngara looked at each other with mutual doubt of Yukari's words, but they were straws that they needed to clutch at.

* * *

"Why don't you stand still and meet my lasers!" Marisa yelled at Elly as she swung her wand around, using the tool to summon multiple blue lasers that she shot towards the shinigami. Of course, Elly kept flying out of the way of the magical attacks, the blonde shooting danmaku at Marisa and Reimu, the servant alternating between a simple yet dense pattern of white danmaku and a large waves of different bullets of different colours and sizes; mostly alternating between medium and large sizes and blue and green.

Reimu focussed her power into the Yin-Yang Orb, summoning Gyoku so he could cast a protective barrier for her and her friend.

Reimu threw ofuda at Elly, the paper charms hitting the death god, making small explosions of holy power, though they didn't do any damage to her that was like the damage they would do to a youkai.

"It's a good thing that we shinigami aren't youkai, or else these would have done much more damage to me." Elly commented, the girl looking up at the two maidens floating above her. "Did you really believe that would be effective against me?"

"No, but this will!" Marisa said, the protégé quickly looking back at Reimu. "Are you used to going fast?"

"I don't know. I remember Gramps going fast, but I-"

"Alright then, hold on tight!" Marisa interrupted, looking towards Elly with a large and crazy grin. "Flashing Comet!"

Marisa, Reimu and the broom they were both riding on was beginning to glow blue. Reimu widened her eyes as she realised what Marisa was doing, already having heard and seen the spell enough times. She knows what the magician was planning.

"Wait! I'm not used to-!" Reimu tried to yell, but it was hopeless as the spell had already been casted and there was nothing else to do except sit back and enjoy the ride. Or in Reimu's case, hug the person in front of you as you move at blinding speeds, praying to your god that hates you that you don't die because of your insane friend or because of the reaper of life that she is trying to ram into.

"Hey!" Elly yelled over the sound of Reimu's screaming, narrowly avoiding the blue light that Marisa had turned herself and her shrine maiden trainee friend into. She growled angrily, getting annoyed as Marisa kept on aiming herself back at her every time she missed; she was on the verge of popping a vein with how annoyed she was getting. "Stop trying to hit me, you psycho!"

"How's about you just stand still and let me slam into ya?!" Marisa yelled back, her voice also eclipsing Reimu's scream in volume. Elly growled again, the shinigami focussing her power in her scythe, the weapon changing shape; becoming smaller and losing its curve, becoming what a scythe was more expected to look like. Of course, as it looked more like the traditional scythe, Elly was now using it more like a traditional scythe, swinging it towards the duo whenever they got close. The usual person would just stop trying to hit her now, especially as she is a grim reaper, but the spell hadn't run out of time yet and Marisa was definitely not the usual person, so she was simultaneously trying to hit Elly while also avoiding her sharp weapon. "Wow, so you really can use that knife of yours, can't you~?!"

"You're crazy, Marisaaaaaaaaaa…!" Reimu yelled as she continued to hold on to her friend for dear life, though it seemed like even then she was doing a close dance with her demise. She was really missing riding on Genji.

"The crazy ones are always the cooler and funner ones, Reimuuuuu…!" Marisa responded a she continued to fly herself and Reimu at high speeds that the regular human would probably not even survive, continuing to try to hit the other blonde while avoiding her scythe. "And that's why you're my best friend!"

The blue comet of ridiculous speeds flew away from Elly, finally slowing down and retuning to the normal duo of magical maidens. "The difference is... Is that I'm not crazy like you...!" Reimu breathed, the young maiden clutching her chest as she was calming her heartbeat down. "And is funner even a word?"

"You are crazy like me, you just don't wanna admit it." Marisa responded, winking at her friend. "And it doesn't matter if funner is a real word or not, it's a less boring word."

"There's danmaku coming towards us again!" Reimu yelled, pointing behind Marisa, the girl turning around to see Elly - with her scythe retuned to its normal crooked shape - firing her simple white danmaku once again, the magical bullets coming in a large torrent.

"Oh, shi…!" Marisa responded, the magician protégé flying them both out of the way again. Marisa took her hands off the broomstick, using her knees to steer the wooden, flying vehicle. Before Reimu could question what Marisa was doing this time, the magician took her hat off, reaching into it. "C'mon, there's gotta be somethin' good for shinigami in here. Madam Mima has told me the ingredients for items that are good against everything else, why should a shinigami be different?"

"Marisa! I think you should focus on where you're going!" Reimu yelled as Marisa continued to fly them both recklessly through the never-ending field of deadly (and somewhat pretty) magical bullets, increased by the constant of Elly throwing around her scythe towards the two.

Gods, how Reimu wishes she had the ability to fly on her own.

"I know where I'm going, Shorty. This ain't my first time flying my broom with my knees." Marisa responded nonchalantly, still steering both maidens through the air at high speeds with only her knees. Marisa continued to reach further into her hat, the item being magically enchanted to fit a huge number of items into it. Her golden eyes widened as she found what she needed, pulling out a golden sphere with a red star printed on the side, a small circle attached to a string hanging on one side. "Ah-ha, just what I need~!"

"What is that?" Reimu asked, pointing towards the item that was now in Marisa's hand.

Marisa looked back at the shrine maiden trainee, her already wide grin growing even wider, somehow; her mouth was on the verge of stretching beyond the usual mouth. "Just sit back and enjoy the lightshow." She responded. "Oh, and be sure to prepare a Fantasy Seal."

Marisa then grabbed the circle with her mouth, pulling it and the string attached to it off the golden sphere. Marisa then threw the sphere towards Elly, the item exploding near the shinigami. There was a large ball of bright fire, one that destroyed all the danmaku. It disappeared in an instant, showing a heavily damaged and dazed Elly, her scythe hitting her as it returned.

"Now would be a good time for one of your Fantasy Seals, Eggplant." Marisa said as the death god they were facing was recovering.

"My name is Reimu." The shrine maiden trainee responded, outstretching her arm holding her gohei, pointing the object high into the air. "Fantasy Seal!"

The six holy orbs appeared and spun around Reimu and Marisa, the multicoloured attacks homing in on Elly. The female finally opened her golden eyes, seeing the Fantasy Seal come towards her. Without any method to escape, at least none that she was aware of, Elly could only screaming as the Fantasy Seal hit her.

"Did that beat her?" Reimu asked as she peered towards the smoke created from the Fantasy Seal, trying to see if she could spot anything that signified Elly's defeat.

A cough had broke through the air; a cough that came from the cloud of smoke where Elly was hit. It was obviously a female that coughed.

"Well, that answers your question." Marisa responded, the magician protégé turning her broomstick towards the cloud of smoke where Elly most likely was still located. Marisa began making a crazy snicker, the action making Reimu feel nervous. The smoke surrounding Elly was cleared by the wind - the wind caused by her swiping it with her hands. The shinigami looked around, finding her scythe lying on the floor, looking lonely in its bent shape without its wielder. Before the reaper could go an retrieve it, she heard the sound of a throat clearing. Even though it was against her better judgement, Elly looked, the resident of Mugenkan seeing Marisa facing towards her, Reimu looking uncertain as she was on the same broom as the blonde. "Shooting Star~!"

Marisa and Reimu shot forwards towards Elly at high speeds, looking like the way they did when the protégé unleashed her Flashing Comet spell. Albeit, the glow that surrounded them was in the colours of the rainbow. And they were moving faster, with more offensive power. But they also moved without any way to change direction, and the spell was much shorter.

Nevertheless, Elly was hit. And as Elly was sent flying towards the floor, as she layed silently on the marble surface, it was clear enough that she was defeated.

"We won!" Marisa cheered.

As the two maidens lowered towards the defeated reaper of souls, neither of them noticed that excited eyes - more red than even blood itself - were watching them from within the shadows.

* * *

"Okay, we choose to believe you now, Yakumo." Konngara said, the oni standing outside of the Hakurei shrine and looking at the rest of Gensokyo from behind the barrier that she had absolutely no chance of escaping through. The fairies and youkai had calmed down greatly. In fact, they were now acting as their regular selves. Konngara could even see a trio of three fairies, one with red hair in a red and white dress, one with yellow hair in a white and black dress, and one with black in a blue dress, plan a prank of sorts. Konngara ignored the trio from the other side, looking at Yukari; the youkai was sitting on the roof, looking into the sky with carefree happiness as she dangled her legs over the edge. "Now, dispel the barrier."

Yukari closed her eyes calmly, keeping an innocent smile on her face - innocent is by far the biggest lie that Yukari could conceive. "No." Yukari answered simply, opening her eyes again to look at the sky again.

"And why would you choose to not do that?" Mima asked as she appeared at the side of Yukari, the green-haired ghost keeping her arms crossed over her chest.

"I simply cannot let the risk of either of you two interfering happen." Yukari answered, sounding a calm and cheerful as she spoke. The blonde then floated up in the air, opening another one of her Gaps, the myriad purple eyes from within the small tear in existence looking out at everything that was inside reality, including Konngara and Mima. "This game could be beneficial for Yuuka. Despite everything, she has mostly confined herself to her home within the Garden of the Sun. She has came across a few people, human, youkai and fairy alike, and she has laughed as she has scared them away. After all, what is better for a good laugh then a little fright? But still, she has rarely ever left the Garden of the Sun. Reimu and Marisa may be what she needs to come out more. And to improve her fixing personality even more."

"If so much as a hair is removed from Marisa because you-!" Mima yelled, the ghost being ignored as Yukari slipped into her Gap, the tear in the boundaries of existence closing as soon as her youkai form had completely entered. Mima looked at the empty air where Yukari once was, the sorceress letting out an angry and reluctant sigh as she knew that waiting and having faith was the only thing she could do, especially as the barrier negated everything that she had up her sleeve, including passing through the barrier and teleportation.

This was like being in the glass cage made by Yumemi all over again.

A yawn was heard behind Mima. "...What happened?" Kana asked sleepily as her form appeared above the shrine. How the poltergeist was actually tired, Mima had no idea. As far as she was certain, ghosts are never tired. Maybe it's a slight difference between ghosts and poltergeists.

"Yukari happened...!" Mima responded with quiet intensity, the ghost lowering down towards Konngara.

"Yukari?" Kana said, the poltergeist scratching the side of her head as she was recollecting where she heard the name from. "Isn't that the name of the person that let me live here?"

* * *

Reimu took the pendant off from Elly, the shinigami remaining unconscious and unresponsive throughout; a clear sign that she was truly defeated by the pair. Reimu held the glass ball between her index finger and thumb, closing one eye as she focussed on the green energy that was Genji within the ball.

"How do you think I can get Gramps out of this?" Reimu asked Marisa, the shrine maiden trainee looking at the other girl as she continued to bob up and down over the floor on her broom.

"That's a no-brainer: smash it!" Marisa responded. Despite how carefree she came off as, Reimu knew that the blonde was being serious.

The shine maiden trainee dropped the clear ball to the ground, a clink echoing throughout the large room. Reimu stamped on the glass, her sandals protecting her feet from being cut by the glass. A mist-like green energy seeped out from beneath Reimu's foot, escaping through the spaces between the bottom of her sandal and the checkerboard floor. Reimu moved her foot, allowing the green energy to fly into the air more freely, the green energy forming together into an unconscious turtle.

Genji slowly woke up, his head raising slightly, his eyes blinking open. "Wait... where am...?" Genji mumbled, his eyes widening as he remembered everything that happened before he was suddenly cut in half and forced into unconsciousness. "Lady Reimu, Lady Marisa, did something happen?! All I remember was a voice, then immense pain and being separated in half. And then... there was nothing."

"It's okay, Gramps." Reimu responded happily, pointing to Elly as she continued to lay on the ground behind Genji. "We already defeated her and released you; she kept you locked in an unconscious state inside a pendant."

Genji turned around towards where Reimu was pointing, seeing the blonde servant that was still knocked out cold. "Oh... I see that you two managed well enough without me." Genji said, the ancient being's eyes widening as he saw the scythe that laid next to the unconscious servant - a unique kind of scythe that can only be properly owned and wielded by a specific species of creatures. Genji turned back towards Reimu and Marisa. "You two fought a _shinigami_?!"

"Yep." Marisa responded simply, the girl casually sitting on her broomstick.

"I repeat, a _shinigami_!" Genji said, his voice with more seriousness than before. "A literal grim reaper! She could have reaped both of your souls if she felt like it, she's a living embodiment of death!"

"Nah, she said that she wasn't gonna kill us and she kinda kept to it." Marisa said, the magician protégé deciding to float by Reimu's side. "Besides, with everything that Shorty and I have faced, a reaper of souls is just another person to beat up."

Genji was silent, the turtle-like being too focussed on his thoughts to make a verbal response. " _She is right. Reimu has faced a lot._ " Genji thought as he looked at the shrine maiden trainee. He knew that Marisa meant the both of them, but he didn't know much about what the magician protégé was doing, and Reimu was the only one he could have any affect in. Single-handedly defeating Konngara. Single-handedly defeating Sariel. Managing to defeat Mima, when even some full-fledged Hakurei shrine maidens didn't even stand a chance. Defeating the two Outsiders when no one else could. And there was the many youkai exterminations and other shrine maiden duties that she performed. Even though she still had his help in most of it, she truly has became something more than a trainee. " _If she proves her strength once again, in this current incident, I'll officially announce her as an honorary shrine maiden._ "

Reimu stepped onto Genji's shell, the shrine maiden letting out a little sigh of relief as she was now with someone who could fly her preferred speed.

"Though I do wonder, who can be so powerful that they have a shinigami working for them." Genji said.

"Oh, it's just someone named Yuuka." Marisa responded, shrugging, knowing nothing about this Yuuka person. Genji, on the other hand, was in a cold sweat as his mind instantly went to a certain, infamous youkai that garnered the title of Ultimate Sadist Creature. "I don't think it's any biggie."

"Umm... Gramps?" Reimu asked, concerned of the turtle beneath her as he shook, his green scales actually turning pale from the memories running through his mind. Reimu nudged Genji's head with her gohei, the turtle remaining unresponsive. "Hey, is something wrong, Genji?"

"Do you mean... Yuuka Kazami...?" Genji whispered towards Marisa in fear.

"I'unno." Marisa shrugged. "All that I heard from the shinigami was that she was working for some Lady Yuuka. She didn't mention anything else."

"...We must get out of here." Genji said, the turtle now adamant about leaving. "We must get out of here and get the strongest in Gensokyo, maybe even the strongest in some worlds beyond. We need help from The Sages; Yukari, Kasen, Okina... every last one of them. We _must_ escape now before she is aware of us being here."

Genji began to attempt to fly away, though Marisa got in front of him. "Whoa, whoa, whoa there, what's the rush?" Marisa asked, the magician protégé still sitting casually on her broomstick. "What's the rush? I doubt this Yuuka Kazami is something that we have to worry about. Madam Mima never mentioned her as someone that I should avoid, nor did she describe meeting her as something that I absolutely must never do. We can just go and kick her ass right now."

"You do not understand." Genji responded, looking at Marisa more seriously than he has ever done in the past. "Mima never mentioned Yuuka to you because she was certain that she was gone forever. Yuuka is an extremely dangerous and powerful youkai, one that was once known as the Ultimate Sadist Creature in an era of darkness. We must leave now, or else a painful demise is inevitable."

"Oh my, it is quite rude to say something like that of someone, especially as they are listening to you~." Said a voice as smooth as honey. Genji froze, turning his head slowly towards where the voice was coming from, his blood turning as cold as ice as he saw that she was already in the room. She stepped out from the shadows, having long green hair and red eyes that twinkled with excitement, dressed in mostly pink pyjamas. She was holding a large, golden pocket watch with roman numerals on it, black bags under her eyes, proof that she needed to sleep a few more hours. "Granted, it is not entirely undeserved."

There was a tremendous aura of power coming from the youkai, one that left Reimu and Marisa frozen for a transient time before they could move again. Genji, however, having already known of what she did in the past, was still frozen like a statue.

They were now in the presence of the 'Ultimate Sadist Creature'.

* * *

 **This concludes the battle with Elly, and now the battle (or battles) against Yuuka shall begin. Of course, Genji is left utterly terrified of Yuuka because of her past as the Ultimate Sadist Creature, unaware of her change.**

 **Speaking of whom, Yukari has shed some light on Yuuka's past, and why she became the Ultimate Sadist Creature of a time long ago.**

 **The main inspiration was from Elly's official battle in the original game, at least her usage of a scythe like a boomerang and the tiles. There was some use of Elly using the flowers to help her, though like with the last chapter it is really meant to establish that those flowers can attack, mostly because I'm planning on Yuuka using them in her battles (or at least on of her battles) against Reimu and Marisa, since she is meant to be a youkai that can control flowers.**

 **There was also some difference between Reimu and Marisa personality wise shown in here, since I kind of feared that Reimu and Marisa were still a little similar to each other.**

 **There were also quite a few references to the Windows era put in this chapter, Yukari's appearance put aside. The fairies are most likely the most obvious one.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	31. A Dream of Lotus Chaos

"Y... You!" Genji choked out, it was hard to breath as it felt like the presence of someone with an infamy as a sadist and such immense power was standing right in front of him, her pleasant smile feeling uncanny and eerie as she looked at the trio.

"My, my, you two have finally arrived to play with me properly, Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame." Yuuka said, ignoring Genji's existence in favour of looking at the two exceptionally powerful maidens in front of her. "I have heard a lot about your strength, but I haven't seen for myself. Please, show me your power without resistance."

"Say no more." Marisa responded, the magician protégé pointing her magic wand towards Yuuka, the green-haired youkai keeping her smile as the protégé floated in front of her. "You wanna know the truth? After you sent that Lotus Flower at the shrine, I have been holding back. You see, after Madam Mima confirmed that you are strong, even by her standards, I knew that I would have to use as much magical power as possible, and you can't achieve that by going all out against everyone else; you're just gonna be tired when you fight against the leader. You better be stronger than those weak mooks of yours."

"Oh, I indeed am~." Yuuka responded softly with her honey-smooth voice.

 **The Everlasting Beauty of Chaos**

 **Yuuka Kazami**

"ARE YOU UTTERLY INSANE MARISA?!" Genji yelled, a myriad of thoughts racing through the ancient being's head as he wondered what would possess the little girl to fight against a monster... No, a thing like Yuuka Kazami. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT SHE IS CAPABLE OF?! SHE'S OBLITERATED ENTIRE _ISLANDS_ WITH A SINGLE-!"

"I am fighting as well." Reimu interrupted of the turtle she was standing on, causing him to look up at her incredulously. Not only would he be horrified of one of the Hakurei maidens, all of which he has loved since the first Hakurei, meeting her demise at a young age, and at the merciless hands of the Ultimate Sadist Creature, but the mere thought of the power to control the powerful and dangerous Yin-Yang Orbs being in the hands of a creature like Yuuka...!

That is a nightmare dreamt and feared by other nightmares.

"You attempted an attack on the shrine, you caused the fairies and youkai to go crazy, you ruined my morning!" Reimu yelled, pointing her gohei at the ever excited youkai. "I. Will. Fight you!"

"Perfect, perfect~! This is just what I wanted! A fight against the new shrine maiden, the person that is growing popular among the youkai." Yuuka responded, looking like an excited little girl as she spun around in the air with her arms outstretched, her giant pocket watch flying around rather dangerously as it was connected to her by a golden chain. Yuuka stopped, the youkai smiling at the two little girls. "For too long I have just been living peacefully, collecting dust and succumbing to atrophy. I do wish for peace, but a little fun is needed every now and then. That is why I called over exceptionally strong humans like you two; entertain me with the memory of battle!"

Yuuka's heart was beating with glee! She finally going to have a good battle after so many years where the most of a battle that she would get is a pesky tengu that would try to sneak in to gain information of Mugenkan, only to fly away the instant they recognised her.

However, as Yuuka looked at the two maidens in front of her, she started to become aware of the wounds that were already on them.

"Oh my, you two are hurt!" Yuuka said, her personality changing to that of someone who was alarmed, even worried. Reimu and Marisa looked down at their bodies, noticing the cuts and bruises that decorated their skin, a result of everything that they had to fight against. They had forgotten and paid little attention of their wounds, more focussed on defeating all of the enemies that came at every corner. Yuuka as suddenly in front of Reimu as the purple-haired maiden was looking at the fresh cuts and forming bruises on her arm, the youkai putting her hands around the arm with as much delicacy and cautiousness as possible, careful to not hurt or damage the potentially sensitive flesh.

Reimu looked up at Yuuka, her red eyes showing concern as Reimu could see her own wounds reflected in the red mirrors of Yuuka's eyes. Reimu turned her eyes towards Marisa, seeing that Yuuka was in front of the blonde spellcaster as well, even though Marisa was still a certain distance from her; there were now two Yuukas.

Genji was left absolutely frozen, unable to do anything as fear chained him in place and kept him in a hold that would leave him unable to move; the Ultimate Sadist Creature was right in front of him, and there were two of her.

"This is such a disgusting sight." The two Yuukas said, their voices holding genuine concern for the state that the two humans were in. They floated towards each other, fussing back together into one Yuuka; they were most likely just two duplicates that Yuuka turned to, like with what the Yin-Yang Orb is capable of. "Little children are the last people that deserve any cuts or bruises, especially fresh ones. I'll fix you both up first."

Before Reimu, Marisa or Genji could say or do anything, Yuuka had snapped her fingers. In an instant, Reimu was no longer on Genji's shell, or even in the room at all. And Marisa and her broomstick were nowhere in sight either.

"W-where are they?!" Genji asked as he looked around the hallway. To who he was asking the question? Not even he knew.

"Yuuka has most likely taken them to her bedroom." Elly said, the shinigami now conscious, though she was still lying on her back. She was looking up at the ceiling without emotion, turning her golden eyes towards Genji. "Yuuka's bedroom is up at the end of the hallway, that's where she has most likely taken them. I know you wish to save them, but Yuuka..."

Genji had left as soon as Elly explained where Yuuka and the humans disappeared to, not giving the blonde any time to explain Yuuka's change since her past as the Ultimate Sadist Creature.

Elly sighed, the shinigami slowly pushing herself back up. Yuuka is no longer the Ultimate Sadist Creature, she changed her ways a long time ago, Elly was certain, She didn't know how long Yuuka has been something different from the Ultimate Sadist Creature, she just knew that she is.

Elly had once feared Yuuka herself when she first came across the youkai. Even though it was a time after Yuuka's mental healing, her infamy as the Ultimate Sadist Creature was still strong enough to make even the immortal reapers of life fear her. It was after Yuuka had saved her from the edge of nonexistence that Elly realised that Yuuka is longer the Ultimate Sadist Creature; she is now Yuuka Kazami.

Elly stood back up, staggering as her legs could barely hold her at the moment. Even though she had lost a lot of energy from her battle against the two maidens, Elly used her power to float off the ground. Hopefully things will turn out alright for Yuuka, that was an echoing thought in Elly's head as she floated to the Lake of Blood.

* * *

Gensokyo is a weird dimension, there is no doubt about that. Living in a country that is full of supernatural creatures of unimaginable capabilities since her birth, Reimu had became blasé to the odd and magical, at least to an extent.

However, getting washed by flowers was one thing she didn't really expect.

When Yuuka snapped her fingers, Reimu and Marisa were teleported with her to an unknown room. Yuuka then suddenly made these weird flowers that looked like lotuses appear out of nowhere, the flowers leaking some golden liquid that healed the cuts and bruises on Reimu and Marisa upon contact. Yuuka was certain that that was just it, but she felt like Reimu and Marisa were 'too dirty' and that their clothes were in need of repair.

Thus Reimu and Maisa were in a large, foamy bathtub, being scrubbed with soap and sponges by sunflowers. As the two confused and naked girls were in the tub together, mutually thankful that it was big enough for them both to have room and being foamy enough that they didn't have to see anything explicit about each other, Yuuka was sitting on a wooden stool not too far from them, her legs crossed as she used magic to repair all the burns done to the clothes, the youkai relying on a needle and a thread to sew the tears in their clothes back together, humming a tune to herself.

"Hey, Reimu." Marisa said, causing the shrine maiden trainee to look away from the odd youkai and back towards the magician, a sunflower rubbing a soap bar against her cheek. "Don't you think that this is all... kinda weird."

Kinda weird? This was probably top tier.

"Well, at least I'm getting a good wash." Reimu responded, shrugging as a sunflower decided to wash under her armpits. "But I don't doubt that we will be fighting her soon enough anyways."

"...Do you think that this water is poisonous?" Marisa asked with a large grin, mostly asking the question to rile Reimu up. It worked.

"Please don't make me think about that." Reimu responded, a bead of sweat falling down the side of her head. "I don't want to become paranoid."

"But it's so easy, really." Marisa continued, loving the reaction coming from Reimu as the sunflowers had ceased their washing of the girls bodies. "You see someone could poison the water you're bathing, poison that could go through the skin and kill you as you're soaking. Or she could just use this moment of relaxation to kill us. Or...!"

"That is _enough_." Reimu interrupted, putting a hand over Marisa's mouth. A sunflower suddenly reached into the bathtub, pulling out a plug, causing the water level to lower. The bathtub seemed to disappear as the water vanished, the two somehow being dried and in their clothes in an instant.

"There, much better~." Yuuka said in a motherly sort of tone, her palms pressed against each other as she felt like the duo of humans looked cute. Reimu and Marisa looked at each other and themselves, noticing that Yuuka had somehow dressed them both in an instant, most likely by the power of magic. They looked completely healed and felt completely rejuvenated. "Don't you two feel better?"

"Yes." Reimu and Marisa said.

"Good. Very good." Yuuka responded in her same sort of motherly tone. She then fired a large laser at Reimu and Marisa, the blue beam of intense magical power being so big and strong that it even managed to destroy a part of the checkerboard floor. Luckily, Reimu and Marisa had both rolled out of the way, the latter quickly summoning her broom to come to her side and sitting on it, floating up in the air.

"What the Hell is wrong with you?!" Marisa yelled at Yuuka. "You were just giving us a bath a second ago, and now you blasted a frickin' a laser at us!"

"We are playing a game." Yuuka responded calmly and simply.

"Well then, it's good that you didn't take my wand or any of my magical items either." Marisa responded, holding out the aforementioned wand towards the green-haired youkai.

"Of course, it is right to be fair." Yuuka responded calmly, like this was mere casual conversation that would never before a battle; a high-octane battle. Yuuka looked towards Reimu, keeping her happy and calm smile towards the purple-haired maiden, the trainee having her gohei in her hands and the Yin-Yang Orb in two forms floating by her side. "That is why I left you with the control of your holy charms and your Hakurei treasure."

"You are correct, and I must thank you for that." Reimu said, keeping her gohei pointed towards Yuuka. "However, even though you have healed me and gave me a nice bath, that wouldn't have been needed if you didn't attempt your attack. Fantasy Seal!"

Yuuka's smile opened in excitement as she saw the yin-yang surround Reimu and glow, her eyes glimmering in anticipation. Despite the drowsiness that was still infecting her youkai form, and the heavy bags that try to pull her to the ground eyes first, Yuuka jumped out of the way of the Fantasy Seal, the glowing orbs changing direction in an attempt to hit her again, as they are a homing attack. However, Yuuka merely used her fingers to fire little lasers at the many spheres of the Fantasy Seal, destroying every last one of them.

"This is what I want!" Yuuka roared excitedly, the youkai looking at the two humans in front of her. "A fun game, a good time. That was all I wanted, and I can already tell you two are perfect to save me from the abyss of boredom. So fight me now. Don't hold back, unleash your all against-!"

The doors to Yuuka's room were suddenly slammed open, Genji flew in from the open entrance, the turtle-like entity stopping in front of the owner of Mugenkan.

"I will not let you harm a hair on their heads!" Genji yelled, the turtle glaring daggers at Yuuka, not that she minded. The glare, that was. The interrupting of her game, however, did make her feel sour. Genji turned back towards Reimu and Marisa. "You two have no idea how powerful and how crazy Yuuka is, you must escape while you have your chance!"

"How powerful is this Yuuka meant to be anyways?" Marisa asked.

"For one, I could just blast the both of you into microscopic particles with a _real_ laser beam." Yuuka answered, making a blue sphere of pure magic float over her index finger, pointing up at the sphere above it. Despite its small size, Reimu and Marisa could feel intense heat coming from it, the heat only increasing rapidly as Yuuka made the sphere grow to thrice the size of her own body. Reimu and Marisa were actually left paralyzed by fear, if it was directed towards the sphere or Yuuka in general, neither knew. The sphere disappeared in an instant, Yuuka moved her arm down, keeping her calm, kind smile. "Don't worry, I won't blast either of you three into a mist of atoms. Of course I _can_ do that, and it would be rather neat, but I _won't_."

"I'd be too merciful in the eyes of the Ultimate Sadist Creature, wouldn't it?" Genji asked, keeping a fierce stare on the flower youkai. He had a feeling that he had no chance of escape, it was feeling like there was nothing else to do except fight back against her. Even though he has heard many legends of the Ultimate Sadist Creature managing to kill off immortals like himself with glee, he would still fight to protect Reimu.

"Ah yes, Ultimate Sadist Creature. What a long time ago that was. I still remember the days in perfect detail, regrettably. I guess I'll never be washed clean of my sins..." Yuuka responded, her demeanour starting off as the same happiness as before, but she quickly began to look gloomy with great regret in her eyes, something noticeable, even though she was now looking down at the floor - at her feet. Reimu could feel great waves of desolation coming from the youkai - and even though she wasn't usually one to sympathise with youkai, she still wanted to help the... extremely odd person. Yuuka suddenly looked back up at the three, smiling at them, though it felt like it was... forced. "But let's cease our conversation for now. This chapter is already nearing 3,000 words long, and Meta Bunny promised the readers a battle against me in the last one."

"Oh, right..." Genji responded, sweating.

"You're going to fight in your pyjamas?" Marisa asked.

"When you fight in a good mood, you fight a good fight." Yuuka responded happily, flying up into the air. "And I like these cosy pyjamas."

Yuuka then began to shoot out golden, plus-shaped danmaku from her hands, both coming from one hand each. Reimu jumped onto Genji, the duo squeezing between the danmaku as Reimu fired holy bullets at Yuuka. Marisa was also squeezing through the danmaku as she shot star-shaped danmaku and lasers at the youkai. Surprisingly, Yuuka didn't seem to mind the danmaku hitting her, firing the same danmaku without a problem; a bubbly smile on her face.

Yuuka flew to the side in an instant without warning, releasing a large wave of blue danmaku that seemed to be in the form of two lines. It was harder to dodge than the earlier danmaku, but it was still possible as Reimu and Marisa continued to fire danmaku at her.

Reimu then felt for something in one of her sleeves, picking out an ofuda. Reimu threw the holy charm towards Yuuka, the paper instantly burning into her being.

Yuuka stopped firing danmaku, screaming in pain as the holy charm was obviously burning into her youkai flesh. It wasn't serious, even the complete destruction of their being isn't enough to kill youkai, they can always calm back as long as even their mind or the concept of fear they represent still exist.

"Is this... burning me?!" Yuuka asked, fear in her eyes. However, in an instant, that fear was replaced by excited emotions, a large smile appearing on her face. "Interesting~!"

"Are you... Are you really getting excited about your body getting destroyed by holy power?" Reimu asked, a bead of sweat falling down from her temple.

"Of course, it is something new and unexpected~!" Yuuka responded happily, smoke coming from the area in her stomach as it looked like it was being burned. "But this is really starting to hurt, so we will have to discuss about this later."

Yuuka hissed in pain as she grabbed onto the ofuda, the sound of flesh burning coming from her wound where the talisman was stuck in, and from her fingers. There was smoke coming from the pads of Yuuka's fingers, the youkai letting go of the paper as she got it out of her body. Yuuka's body quickly began to regenerate, far quicker than any youkai in the past has ever regenerated to any of Reimu's holy attacks, particularly one of her ofuda.

"Huh, so she's more resistant to holy attacks than the regular youkai." Marisa commented, the blonde secretly charging up a spell. "I know she's an exceptionally strong youkai, but I didn't expect this."

"I'm a living vessel of surprises~." Yuuka responded cheerfully, releasing a large wave of medium-sized, blue-coloured danmaku.

Despite the fast speeds, the size of the danmaku, and the very fact that it was a large wave, the danmaku went in a very specific pattern, one that was easily avoidable. It wasn't even like Yuuka was really aiming for them. Reimu shot more holy danmaku towards Yuuka, the green-haired youkai occasionally moving away, only to release the exact same pattern of danmaku.

Marisa, however, had something else in mind. "Stardust Reverie!" Marisa yelled, her voice echoing with power, making a vast storm of multicoloured, star-shaped danmaku come from a seeming hole to outer space that she created. Yuuka looked up at the Stardust Reverie in excitement, becoming entranced by how beautiful the stars looked.

The danmaku began to hit the female, doing relatively low damage towards her, even though the stars were stronger than the regular danmaku.

Reimu and Genji remained close towards the ground, avoiding the star-shaped danmaku. After all, Marisa didn't have any control on who the Stardust Reverie hurts or not; even she can get hit by her own danmaku.

"This is fun~." Yuuka cheered, spinning around as she evaded the falling danmaku. Yuuka started to release more of the golden danmaku that she used earlier; this time the waves were even less dense, but they were now bouncing off the walls, making them harder to avoid as they seem to come every which way and refused to cease.

"Marisa, stop your Stardust Reverie!" Genji yelled, the turtle flying out of the way of the of both the magician's and Yuuka's danmaku. Reimu had trouble staying on Genji, not only was he moving fast and making sharp turns as she continued to stand on him, but she also had to avoid the danmaku as well as some of them came from over the holy entity. But, despite this, she continued to shoot holy danmaku at Yuuka, though only some had hit her as the youkai was now randomly dodging danmaku. "We can get hurt by your danmaku. It's already hard enough to dodge Yuuka's danmaku, we need you to stop!"

Marisa stopped her Stardust Reverie, the blonde equally having as much trouble dodging the danmaku that was everywhere like the air.

Yuuka continued to grin at Marisa, the youkai shapeshifting into a ball of pure light, even her clothes had changed into the otherwise intangible sphere. Yuuka's speed was immensely greater in this form, the ball appearing in front of Marisa in an instant.

Yuuka was only keeping a kindly face, even though she was visibly becoming damaged from all the danmaku that has been shot at her, her eyes closed.

However, even then Marisa was scared off by Yuuka's lack of personal space.

"You're quite the fun one, Marisa." Yuuka said playfully, the pyjama-wearing girl making a small sphere of a blue colour appear above her hand, releasing the same large wave of blue danmaku from earlier. Marisa managed to escape, the magician using Flashing Comet, or at least a weaker version of it, appearing beside Reimu and Genji, coming to a complete halt next to them.

"Sheesh, she's really strong, huh?" Marisa said as she appeared at the holy duo's side, looking at the green-haired youkai, the aforementioned supernatural entity stopping her attack and looking at the three with a calm face.

"I've heard many legends about Yuuka's strength in the past, and even seen it for myself." Genji said, narrowing his eyes towards Yuuka as she just simply continued to smile at his and the maidens' direction. "She's a youkai who has lived for many, many years. Even back then, she was an absurdly strong youkai, far more powerful than most youkai would ever have the chance to be. Youkai grow stronger as they grow older, I have not a shred of doubt that she's holding back against us. But I must ask why she's not using her full power against us."

"Maybe she's just being nice...?" Reimu suggested, a few drops of sweat coming down her temple. Genji didn't quite believe so; it would be nearly impossible to believe that anyone who had committed the actions she did in the dreaded past would ever be 'nice'.

"I doubt it." He responded, causing Reimu to frown at him.

"Well, nice or not, I think I'm actually kinda happy that she's holding back a bit." Marisa admitted, looking at Yuuka as who knows what was going on in her head, the maiden scratching the back of her head. "I mean, I hate that someone is holdin' back against me, especially when I'm teaming up with someone, and I hope that one day in the past I can defeat her on my own with her going all out against me, but I don't think we're doing all too good against her anyways; she just takes everything we send towards her and walks it off with ease."

"Yuuka has always been known to be able to take quite a hit." Genji responded solemnly. "If that isn't enough, her regeneration abilities are far higher than the average youkai's. You could already tell with how she healed from Reimu's ofuda."

"Yeah, I heal quite a lot." Yuuka said, the youkai suddenly among the three.

Maris and Genji (with Reimu riding his shell) flew away as she was suddenly near them, the youkai not showing herself being bothered by their response.

Instead, Yuuka pointed a hand towards the two, a blue sphere growing in front of her hand. "Feel the awesome power of love~!" Yuuka said, a her calm face changing as her red eyes went wide, reflecting a certain level of insanity, her grin turning mad spontaneously with a maniacal cackle that could rival Kotohime's. "Master Spark!"

Yuuka fired a giant, blue laser of pure magical power, far larger than the previous laser fired by her when she started the fight against Reimu and Marisa - for than tenfold the size.

It was large - incredibly large. Marisa and Genji had to fly away at full speed as the Master Spark seemed to grow bigger and bigger as Yuuka released many danmaku that came out in large waves. Marisa made swift movements as she dodged the blue danmaku that Yuuka was unleashing, though she was rather lucky that the youkai wasn't aiming it, seemingly keeping it in place. Reimu and Genji were less swift as they moved at a slower pace, mostly a result of Genji having weaker flying speed than Marisa - he is a turtle, after all - but they were still dodging the danmaku.

Reimu and Marisa continued to fire danmaku at Yuuka, the youkai still not moving from her place as she kept laughing crazily. Was she even aware of the holy bullets and lasers that were hitting her being?

Marisa glared at Yuuka, aiming her wand at the emerald-haired woman. "Burst Dragon!" The magician yelled as she summoned the creature made of flames from the star on her wand, aiming it towards her scarlet-eyed foe. She seemed to notice that large creature of living fires coming towards her, remembering it from when she controlled the Bewitching Lotus Flower. Her grin only flickered for a second, coming back with more might than before pointing her hand towards the creature. She didn't need to say the name of her spell again, the large beam of sapphire colour breaking through the fake creature and destroying it.

"I already remember that trick." Spoke the youkai.

The purple magician merely gritted her teeth before flying out of the way of the Master Spark. She sent stars towards the other female as she flew away, moving towards her comrades as she avoided the non-human's bullets of blue.

"Hey, Purple Head, do you think that Fantasy Seal will do good against her?" Marisa asked as the pair continued to dodge and shoot danmaku at the youkai, seemingly healing after each bullet that damaged her form. The grass-haired lady once again aimed a Master Spark as the two; flying out of the way, where the giant laser couldn't damage them, though they were still hit in the back by some of the blue danmaku. "Don't you think that your Fantasy Seal could do good?"

"It's really meant to be used when necessary, but I guess this is a moment that can be called necessary." The shrine maiden trainee responded, looking back towards the crazy youkai. Reimu extended her hand - with the gohei in it - towards Yuuka, placing her other hand over the first one, summoning her Hakurei powers, "Fantasy Seal!"

Yin-yang that glowed with immense power and bright colours spun around the purple maiden, flying towards Yuuka. The youkai noticed this easily, making a clutched hand before flinging it towards the Fantasy Seal, releasing multiple bullets that were as yellow as gold, hitting all of the spheres of the Fantasy Seal, stopping and destroying the holy orbs.

"Huh, kinda expected that after seeing her destroy a Fantasy Seal the first time." Marisa commented, the magician looking back at Reimu. "Thinkin' of anything else?"

"I could try my fake yin-yang, but they won't do as much damage." Reimu answered, looking at Yuuka as she looked at them back with a calm and friendly smile. "Besides, she could just destroy it."

"What about your ofuda?" Marisa asked.

"I don't have that many left, and she seems to regenerate from them rather quickly." Reimu responded as Yuuka began to fire the same golden, plus-shaped danmaku from before, bouncing off the walls. "I would really need to make them count."

"Ahh, that's great." Marisa responded sarcastically as she and her friend dodged and grazed the danmaku being unleashed by the tremendously powerful youkai. The protégé looked at the danmaku shooter, a feeling of envy rising within the pit of her being. "I really want that Master Spark attack of hers...!"

"What?" Reimu asked.

"It looks so cool and flashy, and it can do a lot of damage." Marisa responded, looking down at her wand. "I could really use something like that."

"Maybe you can ask for her to teach it to you later." Reimu said, sweat-dropping at her friend in minor annoyance. The maiden knew that they needed to end this battle soon, she could feel her body begin to sag from her growing exhaustion. "Okay, we're just going to have to use everything we've got against her if we want to win"

Reimu made an artificial yin-yang appear in her hand, the shrine maiden trainee throwing the item towards Yuuka. The youkai widened her eyes in curiosity as she looked at the black-white item, having never seen it used by Reimu before. As she looked at the item as it floated in front of her, she could feel the energy building within it; that it was going to rupture into more versions of itself. She flew out of the way, but it was too late as the yin-yang turned into multiple smaller versions of itself, the tiny duplicates shooting out in every which way with high speeds, some of them hitting her; shooting right through her body and leaving her with holes in her body.

Even though her flesh, skin and even her clothing had all healed and mended in seconds, it was still enough time to divert Yuuka's attention as a rocket made completely of a blue glow came towards her at high speeds, hitting her multiple times with power offensive power in short intervals of time. She could hear Reimu say something, but it was hard for her to focus on the sound as she was too caught up in the bright glow that kept hitting her without end.

The black of Yuuka's closed eyes were replaced by a bright, white colour. The youkai forced her eyes open, seeing that she was surrounded by familiar balls of light and power; the Fantasy Seal!

There was a giant cloud of smoke from the attack, though Reimu, Marisa and Genji knew that Yuuka wasn't defeated yet; the immense pressure of her power may have waned, but they could still feel that it was too much for her to out of energy or power. And there was a low chance that Yuuka would decide to stop the battle now.

"We know you're still there, Yuuka." Genji said as the smoke cleared.

Yuuka's clothing was damaged, and there was damage on her body, obviously an effect of the holy power within the Fantast Seal. She didn't look angry, in fact she actually looked happy, her eyes shining in excitement. "Wow, that was so much fun~. I especially liked it when the Fantasy Seal trapped and hit me, like a bug in a Venus flytrap~." Yuuka said happily, causing the trio in front of her to all raise an eyebrow. Yuuka's expression began to change; she was still smiling, though she looked like she was serious to an extent, "However, it seems as though the time for playing around is other. Now it's time to be a little more 'serious'."

Yuuka held up the giant, golden pocket watch; the youkai having held onto the item throughout her entire 'game' with the two maidens. The item flew into the air, suddenly gaining a more liquid-like appearance as it began to bubble, changing shape and colour, becoming a white parasol with three tiny sunflowers attached to the white stick of the item. Yuuka quickly held the parasol over her shoulder, twirling it around before closing the parasol, pointing it down at the floor, seemingly pressing it against the air like she was pressing it against the ground, still keeping her smile while keeping her eyes closed.

"Requip." Yuuka said calmly, a circle of light appearing beneath her floating form, pushing up light and air from beneath her. Yuuka's pyjamas and nightcap turned into pure light, the cap disappearing as her pyjamas changed. The youkai was now wearing red plaid pants and a waistcoat of the same colour and pattern over a plain white shirt. Yuuka once again put her parasol over her shoulder, giving both Reimu and Marisa a playful wink. "Let the true fun begin~!"

* * *

Mima and Konngara shared a glare at each other, the ghost's green pools boring in the oni's dark ones, which reflected the action. "So, Mima, it is finally time." Konngara said solemnly, the oni having shrunk down to her human size. Kikuri was no longer on the Astral Knight, the living disk floating in the air and in her full size, keeping a calm and emotionless look on her bronze face. Kana was floating next to her, the poltergeist's arms crossed behind her back as she too had a solemn expression on her spectral face. "Are you prepared? You've already proven yourself as being no watch for me, why do you continue this battle?"

"Because I won't give up until I prove myself as being superior." Mima replied calmly with a smile, her beautiful emerald eyes reflecting her determination. "I have been going easy on you before. Now you shall know the true might and terror of Mima the Magnificent!"

"I am the ruler of Jigoku, do not underestimate me." Konngara responded calmly, closing her eyes and gesturing towards her champion. "Kikuri, the items."

"As you wish, Lady Konngara." The disk responded in a voice as solemn as her face. laying two items on the table in front of Mima and Konngara. The infamous ghost and the former Deva of the Mountain were sitting the opposite side of each other, Reimu's kotatsu being the only thing between them. Konngara's legs were crossed, and Mima's legs would be if she had legs instead of a tail. They both eyed the items in front of them; the exact same items, but they only focussed on the one put in front of them, waiting for Kikuri to announce when they can act. The bronze woman made a deep breath, even though such an action was unnecessary for a being like her. Kikuri then stretched her arms out into the air, the serious look no longer in her eyes, even though her expression was still akin to a serious one. "Now DRINK!"

Mima and Konngara both grabbed for their respective sake bottles, chugging down the light liquor. Mima, somehow able to actually drink the liquid despite the fact that such an action defied many laws of physics, was drink the sake in quick gulps, but Konngara was practically _inhaling_ her sake.

"Ha, I've finished first!" Konngara yelled excitedly, slamming her empty sake bottle on the kotatsu, her face red with a blush, as they both already had a few bottles of sake. Mima stopped drinking her bottle, the ghost putting it on the table in the shrine before grabbing Konngara's and turning it upside down, shaking it up and down. Only a single drop of sake came from the bottle... which Konngara caught on her tongue before it could touch the kotatsu. "T-told ya. I drank it all before you did~!"

Mima quickly drank the rest of her sake, slamming the empty bottle against the kotatsu, just like Konngara. Also like Konngara, Mima's face was having a red flush, the ghost starting to become drunk from all the alcohol she consumed. "I... DEMAND... ANOTHER ROUND!" Mima yelled, barely able to keep herself conscious with all the sake she has drunk. It doesn't matter if she is a very powerful sorceress and ghost, Mima's alcohol tolerance will never be anything in comparison to that of an oni's, especially an exceptionally powerful one like Konngara.

"Where is all this sake coming from?" Kana asked, sweat-dropping as Kikuri placed two more bottles as Konngara accepted Mima's rematch.

"Lady Konngara enchanted my orb so alcoholic drinks could be made in it, bottles and all." Kikuri explained, reaching into her orb and taking out a bottle of sake. The woman in the bronze orb smiled kindly at the poltergeist. "Care to have some sake with me?"

"No, I'm more of a fan of tea." The little girl-like ghost responded, sitting on the air and making a cup of tea appear in her hand.

"ANOTHER REMATCH!" Mima yelled as she slammed her fist against the kotatsu, the drunken making the entire shrine shake slightly from the mere force of the action.

* * *

 **That handles the first battle against Yuuka, with it of course being designed after the first battle against her in the original game. The second battle, on the other hand, should be more different from what happens in the game, as long as I remember my plan and execute it well.**

 **Of course, keeping in canon where Yuuka is meant to be the strongest type of youkai, I've written her to be incredibly powerful. That's all she wrote.**

 **Not exactly much to comment about here, at least at the moment while I'm writing this Author's Note, except that the last scene was something that I thought up while writing this. I was literally somewhere in the battle against Yuuka (writing it, of course) when I ended up coming with this funny scenario of Mima and Konngara having a drinking competition against each other, with Konngara obviously winning because she's an oni.**

 **It is of meant to be a funny scene, and a drunken Mima would probably be a funny (or scary) thing, but that is it.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	32. Fly, and Bloom into a New Dream

"I must admit, you two are a really tough bunch." Yuuka said, the youkai keeping her eyes closed as she kept pointing her parasol down in front of her, a serene expression on her face. "I have loved playing around with you both, however it seems like you two don't need me to hold back."

Reimu, Marisa and Genji kept silent as they looked at the green-haired youkai. Suddenly, one of the square tiles of the room popped out of place, making a short flight in the air before landing near where it came from with a clink; a little, yellow-petaled flower poking out from the square hole in the floor.

"Of course, even strong humans and strong youkai have been dusted by the might of my power in the past, and even I'm not sure how strong it has grown as of this time. So even though I will stop holding back, I will still spare you my true power." Yuuka continued, opening her red eyes, smiling at the humans and holy creature, spreading across her human-like face. "So let the fun begin~!"

The flower that appeared where the removed tile was suddenly grew in height and width, from the flower at the top to its green, stalk body. Tiles flew everywhere as the plant grew bigger, either being in their whole square form or broken into pieces as they flew about. The flower shot up into the air as it grew, passing Yuuka from behind as the trio in front of her stared in surprise and wonder. Yuuka flew up until she was near the top of the flower, the green giant facing its petalled head towards them.

Yuuka outstretched her hand towards the three, the flower immediately shooting long vines that were as twice as wide as a human adult towards them. Marisa shot star-shaped danmaku and lasers at the vines as she flew out of the way on her broomstick; her attacks were effective at destroying the plant parts after a few hits, but the endlessly increasing number of vines was slowly overwhelming her. Reimu was having similar troubles as Genji flew them both out of the way of the humungous stems, the shrine maiden trainee shooting holy danmaku at them that was less effective than Marisa's attacks. The vines closed in on Reimu and Genji, making less and less of a space to escape.

Reimu gritted her teeth, holding out her gohei. "Fantasy Seal!" The purple-haired maiden yelled, releasing multiple yin-yang of immense power that destroyed the vines that were nearly wrapping around her and Genji.

Yuuka continued to smile at the others they were avoiding the vines of the plant she summoned, the former sadist closing her parasol and pointing it up to the air, summoning multiple small spheres of all colours imaginable; shaped like tiny crystals that she made out of pure magical energy. "You can rest now, my flower, it is my turn to play." Yuuka spoke to the giant flower, the summoned creature putting its vines away. The trio noticed the flower's sudden halt in action, looking up to see Yuuka with a sea of colours floating above her. "My, it is quite a beautiful sight, isn't it? Let's see it from up close."

Yuuka pointed her closed parasol down, towards where the three were flying. The endless colours floating above the youkai began to shoot down towards them at high speeds. They flew out of the way of the fast-moving colours, creating explosions as they hit the ground, breaking apart the rest of the checkerboard floor, multiple flowers popping out of the dirt ground that remained of the destroyed floor.

Marisa pressed her hands against each other, a small, dark green magic circle appearing in front of her clasped hands, spinning around as a white sphere generated within the circle. The sphere of light burst out into multiple stars of different colours towards the crystals created by Yuuka, destroying them before they could get close to her. Reimu pressed her hand against the Yin-Yang Orb, summoning a barrier that protected her and Genji as the colours hit the light blue square, though even that barrier could barely block them all before Yuuka ceased her attack of colours.

"Heeheehee~. This is so much fun~!" Yuuka giggled excitedly, clapping her hands quickly as she kept the stick of the parasol wedged between her arm and body. Multiple sunflowers shot out of the now exposed dirt, appearing near Yuuka and facing towards the incident resolvers, just like the youkai. "Let's play this game until we can play no more."

The sunflowers began to shoot their hot danmaku in the shape of plant seeds towards the humans, the aforementioned two being flown out of the way of the magical bullets by the items they were riding.

Yuuka kept hold of her closed parasol, swinging it around, shooting out danmaku from the tip that went every which way. "Let's double the fun and double it again." Yuuka said in a happy and excited voice. The youkai then pointed her parasol out in front of her as Reimu and Marisa avoided the danmaku of the living sunflowers and shot the plants down, only for more sunflowers and other plants - such as fire-breathing roses and dandelions that charged up electrical energy and shot it out in the form of electricity bolts - to replace them. Yuuka smiled, the green-haired youkai splitting into two duplicates. One looked at Reimu and the other looked at Marisa. "And as we double into two, our amusement will double as well."

Marisa looked at the two Yuukas, the magician widening her eyes. "There's two of them now?!" She yelled indignantly as she grazed fire spat at her by one of the roses, using her danmaku and lasers to destroy it and multiple other flowers that were nearby. "At least they both only have half of her true power."

Marisa's statement is true; after all, if an entity turns into two duplicates of itself, they can only possess a total of fifty percent of their original power. Similarly, if that entity was to turn into four duplicates of itself, those duplicates would only be able to possess a total of twenty-five percent of their original power. When one turns into multiple pieces of itself, they logically can't possess the same power that they have as a whole, singular being.

"Heeheehee~. We can have more fun and hold back less, and you two can have more of a chance against us~." The two Yuukas said giddily in unison, both turning into balls of light and flying towards Reimu and Marisa respectively.

Marisa kept hold of her wand as one of the balls of light appeared in front of her, the green-haired girl appearing in front of her, floating in the air upside down (her hair obviously not defying gravity), closing one of her eyes in a wink and sticking out the tip of her tongue.

"Whoa, you're fast!" Marisa said, quickly charging a spell of danmaku and lasers to fire at the tremendously powerful youkai. "And you're kinda weird."

"I take that as a compliment." Yuuka responded, the woman making a vertical one-eighty turn, pointing her closed parasol at Marisa as her flowers appeared by her side, pointing at the protégé with her. "And lets have some fun~."

* * *

Meanwhile, the other Yuuka had appeared in front of Reimu and Genji, pointing her parasol at the holy duo. Reimu and Genji were suddenly surrounded by a large, purple sphere, the ball growing smaller, firing out white pellets on the outside as Yuuka shot out circles of white danmaku, moving at a moderately slow speed. For a danmaku attack, it appeared to be rather unorthodox, though it was the last thing to focus on as multiple fire-breathing roses aimed at them.

Genji flew up, the fire grazing at his feet for a second. Reimu pulled ofuda out of her sleeves and threw them at the flower, the paper charms making holy explosions that destroyed the heads of the flowers, effectively killing them.

"You sure do know how to dodge, don't you?" Yuuka commented as she saw what the duo did, making a yellow orb appear over an outstretched palm. Yuuka threw the sphere towards Reimu, the magic attack breaking into multiple stars of various colours, the cluster hitting the shrine maiden trainee and the holy turtle transporting her. Reimu was flung off of Genji, the turtle creature barely managing to catch her before she plummeted towards the floor.

"I... really need... to learn how... to fly...!" Reimu gasped, the attack having hit her with a lot of offensive power.

"Oh no, I think I put too much power into that attack." Yuuka said as she looked at Reimu and Genji, the sad expression on her face showing genuine regret for the damage she did to the trainee. "I really do have a tendency to go overboard, don't I?"

Reimu and Genji looked at Yuuka, blinking as they were surprised by her capricious change in mood. The youkai then shrugged.

"Oh well, I'll just have to be more careful." Yuuka said, smiling casually.

Reimu and Genji both sweat-dropped at the youkai.

* * *

Marisa, on the opposite side of the room from her friend and the other half of Yuuka, was facing against her own half of the scarlet-eyed non-human. Sunflowers shot out seed danmaku that was hot to the touch as the dandelions charged up and shot out electric bolts at the spellcaster.

"Glacial Metamorphosis!" Marisa yelled as she pointed at the flowers with her wand, immense cold energy shooting out of the white star on top and freezing them in ice. Marisa didn't waste any time in destroying the ice statue that remained of the flowers, summoning magic circles that shot out lasers that broke the flowers into tiny ice shards.

"Interesting, I've never seen someone freeze one of my soldier flowers, especially with so much ease and speed." Yuuka said, the youkai suddenly behind Marisa, the protégé being startled by her sudden appearance from behind. Marisa quickly turned around and flew away from Yuuka, her heart thumping from the surprise. Yuuka just kept making a kind smile at Marisa, not reacting to the greatened distance created between the two. "Usually I would get mad whenever someone decides to destroy any of my precious flowers, but I'm having a lot of fun with you and your friend, so you both are exceptions. Besides, that wouldn't have happened to them if I didn't make this game."

"Lightning Lance Strike!" Marisa yelled, shooting a giant lance made of lightning from her magic wand, the elemental attack hitting Yuuka as she just floated there, the youkai taking the attack without trying to block, avoid or weaken it. "Gee, I know I'm fightin' you an' all, but you could have at least tried to dodge."

"Maybe." Yuuka responded, the green-haired pointing her closed parasol towards Marisa, a blue energy building up at the tip. Marisa didn't need much time to guess what the spell was, or to know that the spell should be flown away from, flying up into the air as Yuuka released a Master Spark, the bright laser beam shooting through the air, destroying a section of the wall, causing the natural sunlight of the outside to shine in through more than just the windows.

The giant flower in the centre, untouched by the Master Spark as it remained what was separating Reimu and Marisa and their respective Yuukas, suddenly sent some of its vines towards Marisa, the blonde taking notice of the vines as a sixth sense warned her. Marisa evade the vines, the flower pieces grazing at the skin of her cheek. Marisa shot star-shaped danmaku at the vines, creating magic circles that shot lasers, which also helped Marisa against the flower.

However, as the magician was focussed on the giant flower attacking her, she was hit in the by danmaku, falling off the flying broomstick.

Marisa hissed as her back stung from the power of the danmaku, her eyes squinted shut as a reflex to the pain. Marisa opened her eyes, seeing her broomstick as she was no longer fuelling it with her magic power. Marisa outstretched her hand towards the piece of wood and straw, the item pointing towards her as she put her magical energy back into it, the item shooting towards her. Marisa grabbed hold of the broom, allowing it to hold her in the air, though she was still hanging from her one hand.

Marisa shot her other arm up to the broom, pulling herself up and sitting back on the broom, her arms screaming in pain as she wasn't used to such labour. "I... really need to improve myself both physically and magically." Marisa said to herself as she was floating on her broom, the magician feeling like all the cells in her being were screaming in terror.

Marisa looked up, seeing that Yuuka had conjured up multiple giant shards of ice, the giant pieces of ice floating in the air as Yuuka kept her parasol pointed up to the air, the youkai then pointing her parasol down towards the human, the ice shooting down towards her. Marisa flew out of the way of the giant ice shards at high speeds, having to make many twists, turns and zig-zags to escape from the ice as it came from all angles and everywhere.

"You're frickin' crazy, y'know!" Marisa yelled at Yuuka as she continued to conjure multiple shards of ice at gigantic size, the powerful non-human not minding the angry magician.

* * *

The other Yuuka, whom was still fighting Reimu and Genji, decided to take her turn on using the giant flower that she created, the rooted giant sending multiple vines towards the two at high speeds. Genji dipped down towards the ground, avoiding the vines, even if it was just barely. Reimu shot holy danmaku towards the large vines as Genji flew them away, once again the flower parts could take multiple hits before they were destroyed, or at least stopped.

"You two seem to be quite the compatible type." Yuuka commented as she pointed her parasol towards the duo, blue, magical energy building up once again. "I wonder how long you two can last~."

Yuuka fired a Master Spark at Reimu and Genji, the duo not getting even a second to stop and breath as they were constantly being chased by huge plant vines and a Master Spark.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, the shrine maiden trainee hoping that the attack will be enough to keep Yuuka distracted. The youkai quickly gained notice of the glowing orbs, flying away as she shot beams of pure yellow light from her fingertips towards the Fantasy Seal. The distraction, even though it is inevitable that it is only transient, should still be enough to give Reimu and Genji a chance to think of a strategy to defeat this unbelievably powerful youkai. "Genji... do you know of any weaknesses of Yuuka's? I'm kind of getting low on ofuda."

"Outside of holy attacks... no." Genji responded, hearing the Fantasy Seal that Reimu created explode; it didn't matter if they hit Yuuka or not, she would be back in only a few seconds. A memory then presented itself to Genji's mind, metamorphizing into an idea. "Your gohei! Don't forget, it is also filled with holy power! Even if you run out of ofuda, you can still use the gohei against her."

Genji's happy expression then went away as a related thought - a piece of hindsight - had also presented itself.

"No." Genji said, shaking his head from side to side. "That would require you to get close to Yuuka. I cannot risk that, she could easily kill you with her physical capabilities. She could even just bite and eat you if you were to get close to her."

"A youkai being denied human flesh is like denying a human of all food. We need to eat human flesh in order to survive, no matter who we are." Yuuka said, the youkai spontaneously by Reimu and Genji's side, startling them, causing them to fly away from her. She didn't take offense, merely summoning sunflowers out of the ground to shoot them. "Though, on the other hand, not all youkai eat humans. And I don't necessarily eat children, nor do I eat any human fatally. Not anymore, at least."

Reimu shot danmaku at the sunflowers, at least she could rely on them being easy to destroy. "Genji, fly us towards Yuuka." Reimu commanded, swallowing down her hesitation and fear an keeping a stern glare towards the youkai. Genji looked up at the trainee in disbelief; a headstrong and reckless attitude may be one of the hereditary things among the Hakurei clan, but even this was on another level. "Max speed. I need to get close to her."

Genji opened his mouth, ready to argue back against her plan about going towards the youkai - even if Yuuka, at least the one they are fighting against, can only use half of her true power, it doesn't change that her strength is still on a ridiculous level - but she moved her stern glare down towards Genji himself, the fire in her purple little eyes being enough for his words to retreat. Genji put his trust and faith in Reimu as he sped towards Yuuka, the green-haired woman shooting danmaku in the form of medium-sized, white bullets towards the oncoming duo.

Reimu and Genji managed to avoid the danmaku, allowing the former to get close to Yuuka.

Yuuka is, without a doubt, very strong; even though her main power of controlling flowers wasn't always seen as the strongest, at least in a dimension like Gensokyo, she still possessed raw magical and physical power that made her more than a match for most. And when one puts her regenerative capabilities - exceptionally powerful, even among the youkai - into the mix, she really is quite powerful. Actually, quite powerful is a bit of an understatement.

There was also the fact that she had great reflexes, at times.

But when the shrine maiden trainee was suddenly in front of her - only a few inches away - with her gohei in hand, Yuuka was simply too surprised to effectively react. Thus Reimu was able to swing her gohei down on Yuuka, the holy power within the wooden wand burning her, cutting into her with its blunt edges, stinging her like an army of hornets.

The gohei struck her between her neck and her left shoulder, sinking into her blackening flesh, smoke coming from the skin as it was being disintegrated by the holy power that was made by the gods to be the antithesis of her.

Reimu pulled the gohei out of Yuuka's body, the youkai grabbing at the area as the gohei went deep into her, the wooden wand seemingly having more holy power than even the ofuda did; her regenerative abilities were slower than they usually were, the string pain remaining even as the pieces that were damaged by the holy power were already healed.

Yuuka let out a hiss with closed eyes, the woman quickly looking at Reimu to see a black and white yin-yang heading towards her faster than she could react, especially as the throbbing, stinging pain was delaying her reactions, causing her to get hit face first by the item. Yuuka was sent flying from the force of the attack, her neck snapping as a result of the attack. If she weren't a youkai, the attack would have been fatal, but being the creature she is allowed her to easily survive the damage.

Though even if it did kill her, she would just resurrect in a matter of seconds.

Stopping her falling body, Yuuka managed to see that it was the Yin-Yang Orb that Reimu attacked her with, the shrine maiden trainee turning it back into two separate pieces that floated by her side. Yuuka's neck had repaired, the youkai cracking the bones in her neck for toe ease the pain in it, as it had repaired from what would be fatal to humans.

"My, what a sneaky trick you two pulled on me~." Yuuka said, not seeming to be angered by what they did, the youkai outstretching her hand towards the duo, the giant flower attacking them again.

* * *

"I've had enough with this ice!" Marisa yelled as she summoned multiple magical circles, the circles shooting out lasers that broke the ice shards into smaller pieces, allowing Marisa to stop and grab her breath. The protégé looked up at Yuuka, knowing that the non-human was holding back against her and Reimu even more than she thought before changed out of her pyjamas.

As much as she hated it, it may be true that she still has a long way to go before she can truly be a match for Yuuka. Though that doesn't mean that she'll ever admit it.

Yuuka opened up her parasol in front of herself, twirling it around as she made six, dense lines of danmaku shoot out from the tip, the twirling of her parasol affecting the pattern of the danmaku; the number of lines of danmaku doubling as it began to twirl clockwise, in tune with the parasol, and yet at the same the lines had also remained in their place. Marisa was trapped between two lines of danmaku before the danmaku that was turning in accordance to the parasol moved the other way, causing Marisa to avoid getting hit by danmaku from the other side.

Marisa knew that it was pointless to just float there and watch. Even if the danmaku takes up Yuuka's energy, Marisa's floating on her broomstick alone takes up her mana - even if it's only a small amount, it is still continuous; and Marisa doesn't doubt that she would run out of energy before Yuuka would.

Summoning two magic circles to stay by her side, Marisa fired star-shaped danmaku from her wand as the magic circles shot lasers, following wherever she went as Yuuka unleashed a big wave of the blue danmaku that looked like it was two small lines.

Marisa is well aware that Yuuka has regenerative capabilities, however, if what Mima told her is true, then regenerating uses up energy for Yuuka. She can just keep attacking Yuuka, eventually the youkai will no longer be able to regenerate if the aforementioned act uses up her magical energy.

After all, youkai in general are known for their ridiculous regenerative capabilities. And Marisa has defeated many youkai in the past, regardless of regeneration.

Marisa smirked as Yuuka repeated her parasol pattern, the hope in her magician heart growing as she remembered that she can defeat this youkai, no matter of if she has regeneration abilities that surpass the average youkai.

"You're going down, Flower Power!" Marisa yelled, waving her wand around as she dodged the danmaku being fired from Yuuka, the green-haired having created a golden magic circle behind her that was firing medium and large-sized danmaku that were spherical in shape. Marisa grazed the danmaku, the tiny star on her wand glowing as she was casting a spell. Multicoloured magic circles appeared all around Yuuka, the youkai taking notice of the circles rather easily, the number of danmaku created by her own magic circle lessening as her focus was put off. There were a total of eight rainbow-coloured magic circles around Yuuka, from top to bottom and left to right. "Rainbow Paradise!"

"Oh, what a cute...!" Yuuka cooed, the youkai being cut off as the eight magic circles had all simultaneously fired a rainbow-coloured laser at her, all hitting her at the same time. They weren't that big, definitely nothing in comparison to the Master Spark on their own. But together, all at the same time, they were surprisingly effective against her.

Yuuka was reduced to black humanoid after the lasers had finished firing, looking like a charcoal-black skeleton surrounded by flesh that was as dark as obsidian, not even her eyes remained. Though her eyes quickly returned, the red orbs being the first thing that she regenerated, looking at Marisa as the rest of her flesh quickly began to heal and turn back to its rightful colour. Marisa was somewhat grossed out by the sight of Yuuka with her flesh and bone returned to their rightful colour, though she was happy that Yuuka's clothes were also materializing back into existence, with was covering up most of her body.

Marisa just wished that she could say the same for Yuuka's head. Of all the things to make Marisa regret casting a spell.

"That was a nice surprise. I'm really happy that you had befriended the shrine maiden trainee so you would come to play with me as well." Yuuka said, her body having fully regenerated. The youkai let out a giggle, pointing her closed parasol at the magician protégé, the glow of a Master Spark appearing at the tip. "I want to play this game until we can play no more~! Master Spark~!"

"You _really_ need to teach me that spell!" Marisa yelled as she flew out of the way of the Master Spark. waving her wand around and making the darkness of the ceiling look like outer space, multicoloured star-shaped danmaku shooting out of the rift-like magical area. "But, until then, I'll just use magic like Stardust Reverie for the time being."

Yuuka looked up at Marisa, the youkai stopping her Master Spark and pointing her parasol up at the Stardust Reverie, the item blocking the danmaku.

"Huh, so the parasol can block other people's danmaku..." Marisa acknowledged as she looked at Yuuka while flying above her, the human keeping her spell going as the youkai continued to block it with her parasol. "Well then, looks like I gotta borrow it."

"Oh, and when do you plan on lending it back?" Yuuka asked, the green-haired having heard Marisa talk over the sound of the Stardust Reverie. Of course the non-human had no intention of lending her parasol(/pocket watch) to the human, as it is very valuable to her, but it would still be kind to ask.

"When I die, duh." Marisa responded, the protégé's spell naturally ceasing as its time limit ran out. "You're obviously going to outlive me, by far. You'll still have a couple hundred years to live once I kick the bucket, so a few decades without it shouldn't hurt."

"With my old age, I can't guarantee that I'll have that many years to live after you die." The non-human responded, releasing waves of pointy, green danmaku; released in expanding rings that were either fast or slow. "Who knows, maybe I'll die for real before you do. You wouldn't be so cruel to take away something from someone and let them die before they can get it back, would you?"

"Hmm." Marisa hummed as she continued to fly overhead the youkai, pressing her finger against her lips as she was seemingly pondering. "I'unno. S'not like it's irredeemable. You youkai can always create more, right?"

"Wow, so cruel...!" Yuuka responded, a bead of sweat falling down her temple.

* * *

"Lady Reimu, you need to think up a solution quick, I'm beginning to get tired." Genji said, flying around and having to do loops and turns to avoid the vines that the flower kept on sending towards him and the shrine maiden trainee.

"I'm not exactly full of energy either y'know, Gramps!" Reimu yelled at the turtle in annoyance, using the Yin-Yang Orbs to shoot danmaku and her natural abilities as a shrine maiden of the Hakurei to conjure yin-yang and shoot them at the vines. "We need to think of a way to get rid of that flower!"

"That wouldn't really work, y'know." Yuuka said as she appeared in front of Reimu and Genji, the latter having to react quickly as the giant flower in the middle of the battle (that is between Reimu and Genji and their Yuuka and Marisa and her Yuuka) continued to attack them. Or at least attempt to attack them as Genji flew out of the way. Yuuka followed after the two, keeping herself in front of the holy duo with ease, making little yellow dots appear around her, like what she did with the Bewitching Lotus Flower. "Even if you destroyed the flower, I could just create it again."

The little yellow dots began to shoot towards the duo as lasers, the yellow lasers luckily only grazing at Reimu, except for a few that cut at her skin. At least the small cuts they made were cauterised upon instant, but the cuts were so small that it would have made no real difference.

"How about this~?" Yuuka asked, the youkai stopping the yellow dots and lasers, as well as the attack of the giant flower. She was floating in front of Reimu and Genji again, keeping her index finger out as the rest of her hand was crumbled in the shape of a fist. She had a happy expression and spoke in an honest voice, "If you destroy the giant flower, I won't make another one appear. Though you'll still have to defeat me nevertheless."

It wasn't the best deal, but it was still preferable to having the flower return upon being destroyed.

"Okay, we'll take it." Reimu responded.

"Uh huh, uh huh. Okay, got it." Yuuka responded, the youkai flying up to the top of the gigantic flower as it remained motionless. Yuuka waved her finger in front of her throat, casting an enchantment on her vocals, putting on of her hands in front of her mouth. "YOO-HOO, YUUKA~! COME UP HERE~!"

Reimu and Genji could see danmaku flying from the other side of the flower, and even heard faint explosions made by the danmaku as they made contact with the floor, walls and ceiling. The danmaku went a halt, or at least one side to it. A ball of light quickly appeared in front of Yuuka as she circled her finger in front of her throat again, undoing the enchantment she casted. The ball of light quickly turned into the other Yuuka, keeping her parasol over her shoulder, like the one in front of her; it almost looked like Yuuka was talking to a living reflection, independent of a mirror.

"What is it, Yuuka?" The other Yuuka asked, keeping a calm smile on her face.

"It seems that we've made an agreement with the Hakurei Maiden, you see." The first Yuuka answered, sitting down on thin air as she twirled around the parasol sitting on her shoulder. "If she or her witch friend destroy our new-born baby here, we won't create another one to replace it."

"Uh huh." The second Yuuka responded.

"So if they destroy this flower, we won't bring it back." The first Yuuka finished.

"I see." The second Yuuka said. "Though I propose that we merge back together. I have a certain... feeling, that our game may end soon."

"Ah yes, I too have that feeling." Yuuka agreed. The two green-haired youkai merged back together into one, their magical energy doubling as they returned to their whole form. The full Yuuka began to stretch her limbs (not as in making them longer), light popping sounds coming from the joints in her bones. "My, it seems both of us have suffered a nasty hit. You two are stronger than expected..."

"What do ya think she's goin' to do now?" Marisa asked as she appeared next to Reimu and Genji, the question directed to both of them.

"I don't know." Genji answered, his two front legs moving upwards lightly in an odd way, like he was trying to shrug, despite his absence of arms and shoulders. "Youkai are a bit of a strange sort of species; their minds are an enigma of a labyrinth; trying to apply the logic of a human - logic that I have long came used to and use regularly now - to a youkai would just not work."

"I already know that." Marisa responded, the purple magician keeping her eyes on the youkai in the distance; she was merely still stretching, though the protégé could tell that she kept one red eye open, looking towards the trio. Either she was making sure that they didn't take the opportunity to make a sneak attack, or she was making sure that they wouldn't take the moment to abscond. "Mima taught me that youkai function mentally different from humans when I started noticing weird behaviours about the youkai around me when she teaching me magic."

"Yes, well that should be enough of an answer to tell you that it can be hard to understand what goes through the minds of any of them." Genji responded, looking at Marisa icily for her rudeness.

"As our game reaches close to its final, like the last scenes of a play before the curtain pulls forever, we shall fill it with the intensity that our souls crave." Yuuka said, the youkai pointing her umbrella out in front of herself, opening and capable of blocking out danmaku. The giant flower that Yuuka floated above began to attempt to hit Reimu and Marisa once again with it's many vines and leaves, the two maidens flying out of the way as Yuuka unleashed a vicious-looking wave of dense danmaku.

Reimu fired holy danmaku at Yuuka, but her parasol blocked the danmaku, keeping her safe of the shrine maiden trainee's attack. "What the...?!" Reimu responded, confused that her danmaku wasn't doing anything.

"Oh yeah, that parasol of hers can block danmaku." Marisa explained to Reimu in a yell over the sound of Yuuka's danmaku being fired; the blonde was trying to get behind the absurdly powerful entity, but the giant flower kept on stropping her with its seemingly endless vines. Marisa couldn't help but growl in annoyance and begin firing her danmaku and lasers at the flower. "And _you_ should just die right now, you insufferable annoyance!"

Reimu and Genji grazed danmaku as they squeezed through it, knowing that the flower was indeed something that needed to get rid of soon, after all they were the ones that proposed the notion of defeating it. And if Yuuka keeps her word of not reviving it upon defeat, then destroying the plant was an opportunity that needed to be taken.

"I can't really control where it goes, but..." Reimu mused, looking down at her gohei and an ofuda that was tight between her fingers. It is a homing attack by nature; it just goes towards what Reimu views as a target or enemy, but she can't control where it goes explicitly. But it is still a powerful attack, and if anything can damage the giant flower enough to keep it out of the trainee and protégé's proverbial hair, then she was willing to attack it with that specific technique. And even if it doesn't go for the flower, then it'll go for Yuuka, and hopefully her parasol won't block it like it does with danmaku. Nevertheless... "Fantasy Seal!"

Reimu was surrounded by multiple yin-yang that she conjured into existence, the spheres glowing colours as they filled with holy power, the luminous items flying towards the stem of the giant flower; reaching higher than any house that Reimu has ever seen in the past.

The Fantasy Seal headed towards the stem of the flower like a fast bird, the yin-yang balls of light that was so bright that it was like they were independent spheres of light exploding upon contact with the giant, thick, green mass, taking out most of the large stem. The flower was unbalanced, being pushed down by gravity, the rest of its stem body being ripped in half by the natural force's push, the giant product of Yuuka's dying as it was cut in half, lying down limp as a flower corpse.

"Huh?" Yuuka moved her parasol down as her view of everything in front of her was blocked by the item, including that of her flower. When Yuuka looked at the dead flower, a new-born that wasn't even an hour old at that point, she felt her body tense and a few tears appear at the bottom of her eyes. She wished to revive it, fill it with new life, but a promise is a promise. In her old days as the Ultimate Sadist Creature, she would break a promise in an instant; sometimes on a mere whim.

But she is now no longer the Ultimate Sadist Creature; she is now Yuuka Kazami, and she'll keep her promises, especially those made with-

Yuuka felt something round hit her in the ribs, breaking the bones and making her taste the flavour of iron as a red liquid escaped through her teeth and lips. It definitely wasn't a Fantasy Seal; Yuuka would have felt the power, not to mention that it would explode on the instant it touched her.

Yuuka looked down, seeing a red sphere that had stuck itself into her stomach. The youkai turned her red eyes up, seeing a purple sphere that stuck her square in the face, the front of her face and skull being crushed as she was pushed through the air by the force of the sphere.

Yuuka forced her body to a stop, the broken bones and flesh in her body repairing automatically. Yuuka looked in front of her, seeing Marisa surrounded by the spheres from earlier, as well as two more of a green and blue colour.

"Betchya didn't expect my Orreries System, didn't ya?" Marisa asked as she flew towards Yuuka, shooting danmaku out of the spheres as they spun around her flying form.

Marisa must have used the moment when Yuuka was stopped by the death of the young flower to attack her, that was what the youkai theorised. Yuuka made sunflowers and other flowers appear around her, the recently created plants firing danmaku at Marisa. The magician protégé merely smirked, firing danmaku back at Yuuka and her plants.

Marisa was now certain of victory; even though she and Reimu didn't discuss any battle methods or plans, she knew they were already thinking the same things, like they were now sharing minds, and they were going to use their numbers and awesome, overwhelming power to defeat this youkai for once and for all.

Yuuka began to look serious, her mouth changing to a thin line as she put her open parasol in front of herself, summoning more and more flowers from the exposed dirt as Marisa shot them down; as long as she keeps her form behind the parasol, the spellcaster should be unable to defeat her.

She may see herself as fair, and she overall just wants to have fun, but the closing curtain of the dramatic play of their battle was closing further and further, and it only made a desire to win arise within her. It wasn't enough to make her want to cheat, it was merely a competitive side within her, but she could still abuse her equipment - especially if that equipment is a parasol that can block danmaku.

Yuuka suddenly felt an explosion happen on her back, the aforementioned part of her body burning with great pain as it felt like it had been quickly dissolved by acid.

Yuuka turned her neck around a full one-eighty degrees, the youkai only moving her head and neck around - her body staying in place to keep the parasol in front of her to stop Marisa's danmaku from hitting her. That was when Yuuka saw Reimu and her turtle friend, flying towards her and shooting danmaku at the youkai, the purple-haired maiden reaching into her sleeve and bringing out an ofuda that she was no doubt going to throw at Yuuka.

Yuuka just couldn't help but smile; it was an ingenious idea, taking the opportunity that she is in one form to attack her from both sides. After all, she only has one parasol that can block danmaku, so she can only keep one side of herself protected.

Oh, what smart little maidens they are.

Yuuka rocket up higher in to the air, causing Reimu and Marisa to briefly collide with each other's danmaku, their clothes getting torn slightly again. Yuuka's flowers extended their stems, the heads being on an even level of air with her, pointing towards Reimu and Marisa as Yuuka pointed her now closed parasol at them.

"Let's end this with a bang~!" Yuuka unleashed a Master Spark as all the sunflowers that were on even level with her fired their seed-like danmaku bullets; though instead of at a focussed area in front of them, the sunflowers just shot out their danmaku randomly, going every which way in an attempt to hit Reimu and Marisa.

Lasers shot from the other end of the Master Spark, piercing through the flower heads and destroying the sunflowers. Yuuka sweated, looking at the falling bodies of the lifeless sunflowers incredulously. In the midst of her lose of concentration, Yuuka had stopped her Master Spark, allowing a certain trainee to speed her way towards her.

Yuuka looked back in front of her, seeing Reimu and her turtle guardian flying towards her. The sunflowers, the few that survived the sudden lasers - most likely from a spell casted by the blonde magic user - still tried to attack the shrine maiden trainee.

But then something completely unpredicted happened; Reimu jumped into the air as the danmaku shot to where she was on the turtle, the trainee throwing ofuda at the sunflowers, the paper charms getting embedded into the seed-dressed faces of the flowers.

The ofuda pulsed with holy energy, the talismans on the verge of exploding with the energy that the trainee had put into them.

Yuuka's eyes then widened in realisation of what Reimu's plan was, though it was a little too late. Yuuka could try to turn into a ball of light, but her panicked mind couldn't think of such a move, and thus the ofuda had made an explosion of holy energy near her, the same energy burning her skin and some of her flesh.

The youkai couldn't help but make a little whimper of pain, her body soon healing. But as her eyes recovered from the flash of holy power, she saw Reimu in front of her, ofuda in one hand and gohei in another.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, engulfing Yuuka's vision with that same holy energy.

* * *

"I'm not a vampire...!" Kurumi whined as she floated in the Lake of Blood, facing upwards towards the orange sky of the ending evening. Her youkai ears could pick up the sounds of explosions and danmaku fire, but she was too tired to really get out of the Lake of Blood. It would be okay anyways, Yuuka is really tough, even for a youkai. In fact Yuuka is exceptionally tough for a youkai; she could even probably give a few deities a bit of trouble in battle. She was confident that those two extremely rude girls would have enough trouble against Lady Yuuka on her own, even if she were to hold back against them. "I'm not a little girl...!"

A shadow - a silhouette - appeared over Kurumi, the black figure gaining more detail and form, revealing her to be Elly. This would be a surprise to the bat youkai if it weren't for the fact that Elly is the only being that Kurumi knows that has that odd-looking scythe.

"Still mad at the two for their words, huh?" Elly asked as she floated just above the Lake of Blood, looking down at her friend and fellow servant of Yuuka.

"They said such mean words." Kurumi responded, crossing her arms over her chest. Elly sighed, knowing that the subject of being called a little girl or a vampire would make her go irate, due to being called both countless times throughout the centuries that she has lived. "Can you believe them, Elly?"

"No, I can't." The shinigami responded, playing along with her ribbon-wearing friend; it was just easier to pretend to agree with her than argue. Elly then outstretched an arm out towards Kurumi. "Come on, grab my hand. It doesn't matter if you are a vampire or a youkai or even a human, spending too much time in the sun won't do you good. And all that blood can't be good for your skin."

Kurumi just floated on top of the Lake of Blood, the golden-haired girl finally reaching up and grabbing her death god friend's hand, letting her pull her up. The floated above the Lake of Blood. Kurumi quickly began to flap her wings; it wasn't necessary for her to fly, but she still like to do it for appearance.

A giant explosion then came from within Mugenkan, the loud bang sounding like it came from within their heads as it felt like their eardrums exploded. The bang would have probably echoed throughout Gensokyo, but Elly and Kurumi didn't focus on that.

The two non-humans above the Lake of Blood merely looked at each other for an indefinite amount of time, the two then noticed two figures flying out of Mugenkan, one seemingly chasing after the other as the sun began to crawl over the rest of the horizon.

Elly and Kurumi flew into Mugenkan, worried if the two maidens had actually done something bad to their master.

If that were indeed the case... then there would be Hell to pay.

* * *

Reimu and Marisa were both standing on the floor of Mugenkan as they looked at Yuuka, the youkai laying in a little cracked hole that was shaped like her, made when she fell down from where she was flying. They were exhausted, breathing deeply to regain their breaths.

They defeated Yuuka, at least that was what it seemed like. She was still lying in the ground of her mansion, her eyes closed, seemingly unconscious. Yes, that sounded like someone who was bested in battle.

Then Yuuka shot her eyes opening, scaring Reimu and Marisa from the pure surprise of it. Yuuka sat up slowly and gracefully, her body still as she bent her top body up, the red jewels of her eyes looking at the maiden duo - Marisa was pointing her magic wand at Yuuka with her Orreries System spinning clockwise behind her, Reimu was point her gohei at Yuuka like Marisa was with her regular wand - the green-haired woman kept her mouth as an emotionless line, but it slowly opened, the edges going up.

Yuuka made an open smile towards the maiden duo, the smile almost looking insane when paired with those red eyes of hers. "Congratulations, you won." Yuuka said smoothly and softly, her face softening until both her mouth and eyes were closed, though she continued to smile at Reimu and Marisa; this time it just didn't look crazy and instead looked like the smile of a kind, motherly figure (the exact appearance of such making Reimu having to force back tears that were trying to breach in escape). "I merely wanted to entertain myself. You two not only succeeded in keeping me entertained, but you also won."

"Oh, we won? Good then." Marisa said, her hands on her hips as she smirked at Yuuka. "Now give us the prizes!"

"I'm sorry, but your rewards won't come until tomorrow." Yuuka apologised, the youkai opening her red eyes again. "I'm afraid that my fun caused a mess in Mugenkan... again. After this mess has been thoroughly cleaned, your rewards will come in due time."

"Not good enough." Marisa responded. "I want my prize now. If you got nothin' now, give me that parasol of yours."

"No. Never." Yuuka responded, the youkai glaring at Marisa for a second. Yuuka quickly calmed. "I'm tired, this day was exhausting for me as well. Go to your homes and rest, let me rest as well, your prizes will come tomorrow."

Yuuka then layed back down into the cracks she made in the floor, the youkai closing her eyes with a serene expression.

"Well, this feels disappointing." Reimu commented. "At least we got revenge. And the fairies have stopped their rampage, at least I hope that is the case. I want to go back to shrine anyways, I really need a good sleep in my bed."

"Yeah, it's totally in the nature of a last person to sleep a lot." Marisa commented, a large grin on her face as she was attempting to rile Reimu up.

"Excuse me?!" Reimu glared at Marisa, the protégé sitting on her broomstick, smacking her butt to get Reimu to follow after her.

"Nyah nyah, nyah nyah, bet you can't catch me~!" Marisa said as she flew away. Reimu got on top of Genji and made him fly after the spellcaster, the turtle complying because he still felt a certain air of unease around Yuuka, even if she is seemingly no longer the Ultimate Sadist Creature.

The two maidens soon had flown out of Mugenkan, one chasing after the other, leaving Yuuka alone, laying in a Yuuka-shaped hole in the floor of her own bedroom. Not that she minded, in fact the feeling of the soil beneath her body was rather relaxing.

The green-haired woman then heard a sound above her as she was starting to close her eyes, welcoming a nice short nap before reconstruction of her home began. Yuuka looked up to see another youkai appearing above her, exiting a black cut in reality that held countless eyes that looked out to see what existed on the other side of the boundary.

"Hello, Yukari." Yuuka gave the blonde youkai a warm smile as she continued to lay down, too relaxed with the bed of soil beneath her to sit up for the time being. "I'm sorry that I can't get Elly or Kurumi to pour you some tea or offer you some cookies, but I am rather exhausted, and Mugenkan is in need of repair."

"It's all okay, Yuuka." Yukari said, the boundary-manipulating entity keeping the Gap behind her open, the eyes still staring from the other side, seeing as much as they can of the pink mansion and Yuuka herself. "I'm only going to be here for a short time. I'll be returning to my home soon for a good sleep."

It was almost crazy how well the two had became acquainted with each other, especially after when they fought for the first time those many years ago; back when Yuuka was the Ultimate Sadist Creature. It could have been those endless years and endless lessons that came afterwards that helped, especially as Yukari repaired the shattered glass that was Yuuka's mind.

"Oh? Then what have you came here for, then?" Yuuka asked softly, still smiling up at her friend.

"Just to see if you are entertained." Yukari responded, the youkai still standing up as she looked at the lying woman beneath her. "As another entity that is immortal and blessed with incredible powers, I understand how desperate one can get to escape the imperishable abyss that is boredom. But..."

"I know..." Yuuka made a deep breath, still not bothering to sit or stand up as she looked at Yukari again, the blonde youkai not looking as friendly as before. "It wasn't the best idea to pick the last remaining shrine maiden to be the one to entertain me, but the world had truly turned a dull grey from such lack of activity. Not even flowers could control the growing hunger for a good battle that made me desperate. I had absolutely no intentions of killing her or making her suffer any wounds that could turn fatal."

"I know that you wouldn't try that; you're not like that anymore." Yukari responded, her calm voice contradicting the echoes of a glare on her face. "But be sure to not do that another time. There is only one Hakurei shrine maiden left at this moment of time, if she is killed, even on accident, then Gensokyo itself will be at a threat of destruction."

"I will remember that next time." Yuuka said, still easing her immortal body into the ground beneath her checkerboard floor. "I promise."

"Good." Yukari responded simply, the boundary-controlling youkai going back into her Gap, the cut in reality closing back up.

Yuuka was left on her ownsome again for a few seconds before she could hear feet slamming rapidly against the marble floor, the youkai turning one of her red eyes towards the distance to see Elly and Kurumi running towards her.

Yuuka smiled softly at her two friends. "It was a fun fight." She responded simply to the two worried non-humans.

* * *

 **And I'll be ending the chapter here because it's rather long, at least for the primary word count for each chapter that I've set for this story. I was planning on including Reimu and Marisa returning to the Hakurei shrine, as well as Yuuka visiting the shrine the next day with Elly and Kurumi (and Reimu and Marisa's prizes), but like I've said this chapter is already long enough, or at least that's the way it feels since I've set for the chapters of this story to be kept short or medium in length.**

 **I can just write into the next chapter of Reimu and Marisa heading to the Hakurei shrine and whatnot, write the battles between Mugetsu and Gengetsu (considering the reasons I have thought up for the duo to fight the two sisters), and then have Yuuka visit the Hakurei shrine with Elly and Kurumi and the prizes for Reimu and Marisa (don't expect those prizes to be anything special).**

 **Seriously, even without this Author's Note, the chapter is almost 9,000 words long.**

 **Hopefully the battle wasn't anticlimactic, considering how much I was building up Yuuka's strength. I at least kept more to what was happening in the story this time, unlike the last chapter (this is a reason why I need reviews, especially ones with constructive criticism, 'cause it can help me become a better writer when I'm told what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing right).**

 **I don't quite remember when or where I thought up with it, but I decided to add a heartwarming (?) moment between Yukari and Yuuka in this chapter, with them building some sort of friendship from the years when Yukari was helping Yuuka with her mental problems that were explained by the Gap youkai herself in a past chapter. Eh, maybe it's because I'm a big fan of Imperfect Metamorphosis and the two beings friends is like the complete opposite of what they were in that fanfic.**

 **Eh, maybe things will change, I dunno.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	33. A Demon's (Forbidden) Game

Evening was descending on Gensokyo, the pale orange colour in the sky, slowly darkening into night, a sure sign that the day was over for the humans, and just beginning for most of the youkai.

The mysterious and sudden incident of fairies and lower-level youkai going wild and attacking anything that wasn't one of their own blindly had ceased entirely; most of them didn't even remember such a thing even happening. Thus most of the fairies were in a passive mood; usually either just admiring a sweet-smelling flower, flying around and playing games with each other, or just enjoying a nap to pass the time. For creatures with such eternally young bodies and minds that were as clear as a cloudless day, the immortality that they enjoyed was never filled with any real pain or boredom.

As such, one fairy with butterfly wings and two large, yellow osmeterium on her head and a large leaf encompassing most of her torso was playing with a fairy that had light-blue hair, was wearing a light-blue and had six large crystals of ice on her back for wings, were playing a game of tag in the air; oblivious to the world around them and enjoying their endless life innocently.

Then something very fast flew by them faster than either of them could really notice, leaving both of them spinning around in the air.

"Ugh... What was... that...?" The butterfly-like fairy asked dizzily as she was the first to stop, her head feeling light as her mouth tasted terrible; a sign that she was probably going to be sick. "I think... it was... purple? With yellow...?"

"I can't... see anything..." The ice fairy responded as she finally slowed down to a stop. Before any of the fairies could get over their dizziness, they were passed by another fast thing, sending them spinning around like their own personal tornados once again.

These two fast things that were flying across the air of Gensokyo (and disrupting the fun of the fairies in their games) were Marisa Kirisame and Reimu Hakurei (albeit riding on top of a supernatural turtle) respectively, one chasing after the other as that aforementioned other kept on teasing her further and further.

"Gee, you're so much fun to tease~." Marisa said as she passed through a group of fairies in the air that were minding their own business, the magician facing towards the angry shrine maiden trainee and her far less angry turtle, blowing a raspberry at them to rile up the purple-haired girl even more, the success of such an attempt making it impossible for Marisa to contain her laughs. She then spotted it in the distance; the Hakurei shrine. Marisa increased the magic she was putting into her broomstick - that last amount of mana that she had for that current time - speeding towards the old shrine even quicker than before, landing in front of it. "There, good thing we didn't run into anymore trouble after that Yuuka stuff. Don't know if I could even handle anymore fairies."

"Don't think I'm done with you yet, Marisaaaaaaaaa!" Reimu yelled as Genji floated down to the front of the Hakurei shrine, the trainee jumping off the turtle and running towards her friend, whacking her angrily as the magus only laughed at her friend's anger.

"Sheesh, you just can't get a chip off yer shoulder, huh?" Marisa asked as Reimu kept on hitting her on the side of the head with the wooden wand; the trainee must have been left exhausted from that battle with Yuuka, because her swings with the thing were rather weak.

Reimu just growled, the shrine maiden trainee grabbing the Yin Yang Orb, the holy relic shining as two spirits appeared from it.

"What is it that you have summoned us for, Lady Reimu?" Sin and Gyoku asked calmly and respectfully as they bowed towards their current master.

"Beat her up!" Reimu yelled angrily, pointing at Marisa. Sin and Gyoku both looked at the protégé and then back at the latest shrine maiden of the Hakurei bloodline.

"Umm... Lady Reimu." Sin said, the red-haired priestess gaining the attention of the purple-eyed maiden. "Why exactly do we need to?"

"Because she got me angry." Reimu answered, like that made everything clear.

"How did she get you angry, Lady Reimu?" Gyoku asked, the priest spirit having a piece of sweat fall down from his temple.

"I don't remember, I just remember that I am angry about it." Reimu responded, still rather miffed about what Marisa did. The two Hakurei guardians looked at Genji, the three spirits of Hakurei letting out a sigh as the two siblings disappeared back to the Yin Yang Orb. Reimu only seemed to get more angry. "Hey, get back here! Didn't you listen to me?!"

"You really need to take a nap." Genji commented as the holy turtle walked next to the shrine maiden trainee, the turtle noticing two black bags appearing at the bottom of Reimu's eyes; the bags were rather small and lightly coloured, but they were still noticeable, at least to the non-human creature. "You're getting rather cranky."

"Turn down that racket!" Mima suddenly yelled, the ghost opening the slide doors in front of the shrine, looking rather angrily at the three. She seemed to be drunk, something that Marisa didn't think was possible for the ghost, however it seemed like she sobered in an instant as soon as she realised who she was looking at. Or at least just the two maidens she was looking at. "Marisa! Reimu! You two survived against Yuuka Kazami..."

Mima then muttered something under her breath, the green-haired sorceress seemingly not believing what she whispered inaudibly before looking back at them.

Konngara then appeared around the corner of the shrine doors, the former Deva of the Mountain also looking rather drunk before sobering up in an instant upon noticing who were there. In an instant, the powerful oni that ruled over Jigoku was suddenly hugging Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee barely able to breathe as Konngara forgot to restrain her strength, especially as her strength has increased from the training she has been doing as of late to regain all of it that she lost from her days of doing very little in Jigoku.

"Oh Great Dragon Above the Heavens, it's so great to see you again, especially after when I found out who you were fighting against." The Astral Knight said, minor tears coming out of her eyes. Konngara then opened her eyes wide, looking in front of herself, towards the torii gate in front of the shrine grounds. The oni, still in a regular size, walked towards the front of the Hakurei shrine, with the shrine maiden trainee still having her face pressed against her by one arm. The oni then reached out in front of the Hakurei shrine, her hand not being stopped by any invisible barrier. "Good, she has now undone the barrier trapping us here."

Marisa raised an eyebrow at the oni and at her teacher, confused by their odd behaviour. "Just what the Hell are you two talkin' 'bout?" Marisa asked, looking at them and back into the shrine. The blonde merely saw a girl in a large, floating bronze disk putting a bunch of empty alcohol bottles into a blue orb on the disk she was seemingly trapped in. The girl noticed Marisa, giving her a kind smile and a wave.

"Konngara...!" Reimu wheezed, her head basically being crushed between Konngara's bicep and chest. "You're crushing... suffocating me...!"

"Oh! Oh! Sorry, Reimu." Konngara said, letting go of Reimu and allowing her to breath. The shrine maiden trainee was on her hands and knees, one hand on her throat as she took in deep breaths. "I've forgotten what my true strength is like; my true strength that I've been training to return to me. It has been so long, I've forgotten how powerful I can be."

"I... see..." Reimu responded, almost collapsing as she was still having some trouble with breathing.

"Sorry..." Konngara apologised, the red-eyed woman then noticing the blonde that was with Reimu. The same blonde standing near Mima and seemingly on casual terms with her. It was easy for Konngara to guess that she is Mima's protégé that Yukari mentioned. The magician quickly gained notice of Konngara's eyes, the two looking at each other; Konngara kept a serious expression, a complete difference to the spellcaster's casual face. "So you are this protégé of Mima's that I have been hearing about."

"Whoa! Has the legends of my greatness been reachin' Jigoku?!" Marisa said, surprised that the ruler of another dimension knew of her existence and status. She wasn't amazed, nor was she respectful of Konngara's own status, but such a fact did give her ego and pride a much loved boost. In fact, Marisa had her hands at akimbo, a prideful expression on her face. "Figures, I _am_ the greatest student of the greatest wizard of all time. In fact, that makes me the second greatest wizard of all time, of course those in another dimension would know of the great name that is Marisa Kirisame."

"Actually, there are many sorcerers and witches and of the like that far surpass Mima. Even off the top of my head, I can confirm Merlin as being a much stronger mage, especially after his own untimely demise." Konngara mumbled, the oni quickly returning to the impassive façade that she had. Though it wasn't a complete façade, as she truly did feel serious when in the presence of someone who was willing to follow in Mima's footsteps. "As for you... Are you going to truly follow in your master's footsteps? Are you going to commit the endless sins and atrocities that Mima has committed, if not even worse sins and atrocities?"

"Nah, you won't have to worry 'bout me doing that." Marisa shrugged in response, the magician keeping her nonchalant appearance that she has had ever since Konngara first saw her barely even a few minutes ago. "I was gonna help Mima with her plans to kill almost every human and enslave the rest, but after Reimu kicked both our asses, I decided to just not and be her friend."

Konngara was silent, the Astral Knight narrowing her eyes as Marisa, a look of distrust in the red organs. Marisa of course didn't feel any pain from it; if she's okay with not being trusted by those she knows, what difference does a random youkai do?

"I guess as long as I'm with Reimu, my bad bone's under control." Marisa said, the spellcaster's assurance causing Konngara to narrow her eyes less. "I guess I might as well even start workin' to protect Gensokyo as well. Reimu's too young and too weak to protect this big place on her own."

"It's funny that you say I'm too weak, and yet I have already defeated you more times than you've beaten me." Reimu said, the shrine maiden trainee suddenly completely conscious and on her feet, standing in front of Marisa with her arms crossed over her chest, giving her friend a slight glare.

"Hey, least I got you moody over somethin' else." Marisa responded, shrugging and giggling uncontrollably as she annoyed her close friend to no end.

"Well, I am happy that you managed to find a human friend, Reimu." Konngara said, smiling to the still (somewhat) angry purple-haired maiden, the oni proceeding to glare at Mima, the ghost merely smirking as she was under the former Deva's eyes. "Even if it turns out that she is associated with someone who you shouldn't really be near with, especially without something pointed at her head."

"Oh Konngara, you're such a heartless breaker of hearts!" Mima shrieked in a purposefully over the top way, pretending to faint as she cried crocodile tears. "And here I thought our little drinking contest had buried the hatchet, put the water under the bridge, let time heal the wounds, and yet you still hate me. Oh, and I thought I finally had a friend!"

Konngara looked at Mima, not believing the ghost for even a second. "Be both know that you never wanted a friend, Mima." Konngara said emotionlessly towards the ghost as she continued her obvious façade. "All you have ever wanted is power and conquest. You yourself has made it clear that you believe that a friend is nothing more than what will get in your way."

"Hahahaha, you're right." Mima said, the ghost getting off the ground, completely changing out of her sad mask and showing her true face of trickery. "I never really cared about having a friend. If you want a friend a so badly, just kidnap them and force them to be your friend; even if it requires manipulating their personality and memories to be in your favour."

"As I hear this, I feel as though it is better that you have no friends." Genji commented, sweat falling down the side of his rough head.

"My only friends are the cool ones." Mima commented.

"Anyways," Konngara said as she opened a portal to Jigoku within the torii gate in front of the Hakurei shrine. "I must return home, I can only wonder how much has happened within Jigoku while I was away. Even though I have managed to get my personal servants to have more authority over the piece of Hell so I can spend more time outside of Jigoku, there is only so much time...! Farewell for now, Reimu."

Konngara waved at Reimu and Genji as she passed through the torii gate, the portal to Jigoku closing behind her.

"Well... I don't know 'bout her." Marisa said simply after Konngara vanished through the portal, the blonde looking up at the sky, seeing that it was becoming dark, with there even being some distant stars that she could spot twinkling. "Oh, how long did it take when we were fighting that Yuuka person? I outta get home soon, today I'm not in a mood for my parents' bitchin'."

Marisa snapped her fingers and her broomstick was floating on its side right beneath her, the magician sitting on top of it, her feet dangling as she floated higher into the air.

"See ya tomorrow, Shorty." Marisa said to Reimu as she prepared to fly off back to her home (albeit, rather begrudgingly). Marisa flew off, the magician being followed by Mima, as the ghost knew that she wouldn't have a chance to spend more time with her student when she returns home, mostly because she can't stand Marisa's parents' whining. They really need to be more like their daughter.

"She won't be allowed to hang out here anymore if she keeps on purposefully annoying me like that." Reimu grumbled with her arms crossed over her chest, the shrine maiden trainee letting out a loud and long yawn.

"Lady Reimu, I seriously believe that you need to go to sleep." Genji warned of the trainee worriedly, the turtle nudging the maiden's hip with his head. "A battle against something of Yuuka's level, even if you are helped by someone who is just as strong as you are, would be absolutely exhausting at the least. You deserve a night asleep."

"No... I need to make sure... that no youkai... are being..." Reimu protested tiredly, yawning more as she began to slowly lose consciousness. "O...Okay, maybe I do need... some sleep."

"Miss Reimu," Ruukoto said monotonously, the impassive android holding a youkai by her hair, having eyes and hair that were a scarlet red, as well as wielding a familiar baton. "I found her earlier after I finished clean up of the shrine. Like everyone else, she was unable to escape. What should I do with her?"

"Just let her go, Ruukoto." Reimu yawned tiredly in response as she walked into the Hakurei shrine, too tired to even really take notice of what the nuclear-powered android maid said about no one being able to leave earlier. "She's a weak youkai, there is nothing serious that she can do."

* * *

Marisa and Mima were flying through the air of Gensokyo, the last colours of orange slowly vanishing over the horizon, transitioning into night. Maybe if Marisa increases her speed, her parents will be less mad. Who knows, maybe only her father will get angry, that would be preferred.

The blonde magician looked over to her side, towards her spectral teacher that was flying beside her. "Hey, Mima..." Marisa asked as she looked back in front of her, not wanting to crashing into a random youkai flying through the night air; going through that once or twice is enough for her.

"Yes, Marisa?" Mima responded, the ghost pointing her finger out in front of her, towards a group of youkai that were in the way, possibly even wanting to have a good fight, as night tended to put the creatures in a more rowdy mood. Mima made a small, dark purple magic circle appear in front of her pointed index finger, the circle shooting out a laser of the same colour, creating a huge explosion of purple as soon as it got near the youkai in the distance; the aforementioned explosion dying quickly before either of the two females made it to it.

"That thing that Gorilla, or whatever her name is, said about you, 'bout you believing that a friend will only get in your way..." Marisa answered, the magician protégé keeping her hand on her hat so that it didn't fall of her head. Maybe Mima will one day teach her how to cast an enchantment that can keep the hat on her head. Or maybe she can learn how to cast that kind of spell from a grimoire that she 'borrows'. "Is it true."

"Yes." Mima answered casually, the spirit having no shame about her belief of friendship only be the antithesis of everything important in the world. She quickly read her own student, knowing what she is going to ask next. "Do not worry, I have only taught you magic, not how you should live. My beliefs don't need to be yours; you can have friends if you want. In fact, make sure that you make as many friends as possible, and grow close to them."

"Wait, what?" Marisa asked, the magician skidding to a halt, floating in the air on her broomstick, under the night sky and the full moon. "Are you sure you're Mima? 'Cause I know you would never say anythin' like that if ya really are Mima."

"Oh, but it is true, Marisa." Mima responded. There was a slight falter on the ghost's face, like she was showing some sort of regret, but she hid it quickly behind her usual brazen expression. "I never had friends when I was alive, completely cut all ties I had with them when I was at most the age of fifteen. I saw them as nothing more than what would get in my way, that they needed to be out of my life in order for me to become as powerful as I am today. I wouldn't let anything stop me, even if I had to blast them to smithereens to get them out of my life. The point is, without friends I have crossed an event horizon; and you don't need to go through that yourself."

Mima suddenly put her hands on Marisa's shoulders, the spellcaster tightening them around her student's shoulders.

"Marisa, as a ghost who can enter the mortal realms freely, I don't need a successor. And I don't mind having someone becoming stronger than be by being taught by me," Mima continued, what looked like tears were starting to come from her eyes. "But that doesn't mean you should end up like me! I have done bad, unforgivable things. I know that if there is any final resting place for me, it'll be in one of the hottest, most painful depths of Hell. Keep your friends close, do what I haven't and care for them, because they'll stop you from going through the same inevitable fate that I have built for myself!"

"M-Mima...!" Marisa breathed, unable to believe what was happening in front of her. The only time - the one and only time - that she ever saw Mima like this was when she was defeated by Reimu. It was enough of a sigh that Mima was serious about this, and she didn't know how to react.

"Just promise me..." Mima muttered, her otherwise flawless face becoming stained with her ghostly tears. "Please promise me that you will become strong, like the student you are, but never do what I did to become strong. Because if you do, then there is nothing that you can do to escape from suffering in Hell one day. Even if you become a ghost like me, you _will_ have to one day face the consequences. I know I will have to face those consequences. And whenever or not I regret them - no matter how much I regret them - it will do nothing as I am given my final judgement!"

"I... I promise." Marisa responded, still feeling greatly unnerved by the uncanny sight of Mima being legitimately sad. "I'll stay friends with Reimu, I'll stay friends with her forever. And I'll make many more friends, I won't do anything that will make me unforgivable in the sight of... whoever it is that is sending you to Hell...!"

"Good. Good." Mima responded, the ghost taking in a deep and shaky breath, her closed eyes still covered in droplets of tears. "There are some footsteps of a master that an apprentice must never follow in...!"

* * *

Reimu felt like she was drifting, like she was floating above water, but without the water. She opened her eyes, the feelings of drowsiness that she was certain that she felt a few minutes ago completely gone.

The shrine maiden trainee opened her eyes, seeing that she was floating in the air.

Reimu's eyes had widened, and she had to take more than a double take. She was flying through the air, and on her own power at that. There was nothing beneath her, no Genji or broomstick, or anything else that can fly; she was flying completely on her own free will.

Reimu then stopped as she realised where she was. It looked like Gensokyo, and even as a native that has been living in the fantasy-like dimension throughout all her life, she could mistake it for Gensokyo, but it definitely was not Gensokyo.

It did have trees, grassy grounds, a large pond somewhere on it, and distant mountains, but it all looked... different; like this place was a canvas that someone used to paint a picture of only dark colours. There was a purple crescent moon in the distance, the biggest sign that this place was definitely not Gensokyo, but there wasn't a single sign of any other life in this odd place whatsoever. Reimu reached into her sleeves and all around her kimono and hakama, not finding any ofuda or gohei.

Reimu frowned; her instincts as a shrine maiden trainee, especially one of the Hakurei shrine, were tingling like crazy, and the fact that she didn't have anything that she usually had on missions was unnerving. She could still uses Fantasy Seals, but those were usually taxing on her energy.

But at least she could fly... The novelty of such a new ability quickly died as she started to think more about where she was, even though she still had absolutely no idea about what this place is or how she got here.

Reimu sighed and flew through the air, looking around for anything familiar, or any way out of this odd place.

After seemingly hopeless flying, Reimu saw someone in distance, someone familiar who looked confused. "Hey, Marisa!" Reimu yelled towards the protégé as she flew closer, the maiden surprisingly getting quickly used to and mastering the ability of flying, even though she just started flying a few minutes ago at the most. Reimu's friend quickly noticed her, the other maiden smiling and waving back at her. As Reimu came closer and closer, she also noticed that Marisa was floating in the air without the use of any other item or anything else of the sort; she was completely flying of her own power.

"Hey! It's good to see you here, and flying on your own as well, huh? Looks like we're both here, and we're both lucky to get somethin' out of this." Marisa said, the magician once again with her hands akimbo as she looked around the odd place, also not finding any sign of life. "It's weird though. Last I remember, I was in my bed, and all of a sudden I'm here with the ability to fly, but everything else is gone, except for my clothes."

"Wait, you sleep in your regular witch outfit?" Reimu asked.

"Yeah." Marisa responded indifferently. "What makes you any different? You're in your shrine maiden clothes."

"The Hakurei shrine is often very poor and I'm not allowed to wear much outside of the proper kimono and such." Reimu explained, looking offended by what the blonde pointed out. "I'm sure you can afford and wear pyjamas, so that's why I'm curious as to why you're sleeping in a witch costume."

"Ah..." Marisa responded.

* * *

As the two girls were speaking with each other, they were not aware that they were being watched by the creator of this odd place they were suddenly in, and her older, stronger sister. They were both sitting within the crescent moon floating not far above the land in this dimension, sitting at a table with tea and snacks.

"It seems as though they have found each other." One of the sisters, the elder one, said as she watched the two humans talk. "These two friends have shown to be exceptionally powerful for humans, despite their young ages, from everything that we've seen from them. They should be entertaining players in our demons' game."

"They have even recently fought against the great Yuuka Kazami, the former Ultimate Sadist Creature." The younger sister said, looking back at her older sister with a big grin on her face. "Once again, thank you for letting us use my pocket dimension as the playground~."

"You won the game of rock-paper-scissors, what else do you need?" The elder sister shrugged in response.

"Ah, it just feels like such a privilege to have such powerful playmates in my own personal dimension." The younger sister said, the demon standing up. "I should go know and prepare our pieces, let them warm up with them before they get serious with us."

The younger demon sister disappeared into thin air, the elder one remaining sat down, merely looking back at the show of the two humans as she bit into a jam tart.

* * *

"So how did we get here, anyways?" Reimu asked, her arms were also in akimbo as she looked at Marisa, confused with her head slightly tilted to the side. Reimu looked around the world, still looking like a painting of dark colours on a canvas with no life in it whatsoever, except for the shrine maiden trainee herself and her friend, of course. "All I remember is falling asleep... And then I'm suddenly in here."

"Well I already told you that I woke up here, in fact I was flying in the air as I was flyin', once again without my broomstick..." Marisa trailed, the protégé's eyes wideneing massively as she was starting to put the pieces together, like a jigsaw puzzle where it slowly got easier as there were less pieces to work with to find the full picture. "We both woke up here after falling asleep in here, didn't we?"

"Yeah." Reimu responded, not quite understanding what Marisa was theorizing.

"And do you ever have dream about flying on your own? Without that old turtle to carry you 'round?" Marisa asked, looking at her friend as she floated in front of her.

"His name is Genji, though I usually just call him Gramps." Reimu responded, giving her friend a slight frown. "But yes. Ever since I found out that the Hakurei bloodline is that of renowned flyers, even in a dimension of flyers like Gensokyo, I did get quite sad that I'm the only one who hasn't shown any flying ability yet. So I often dream about being able to fly on my own, but I usually forget about them shortly after I wake up and... Oh, wait, does this mean...?"

"Yep, I think we're dreamin'!" Marisa said excitedly, a large grin popping up on her face. The two girls then giggled uncontrollably, clasping each other's hands excitedly. "Isn't this cool, Reimu? We're both in a dream, a flying dream, together~!"

"I know~." Reimu responded excitedly, her face just as bright and happy as her friend's. Though something then dawned on Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee suddenly losing her happy personality. "Wait, how are we both here? And how are we both aware of this being a dream?"

"I'unno." Marisa shrugged, the magician leaning back on the thin air, enjoying that she could fly without having to use her broomstick in this dream place. "Maybe we're sharing this dream, and it's also a lucid dream. This can't be the weirdest thing that we, as Gensokians, have gone through."

"I... guess you're right." Reimu responded.

"Oh my, it seems as though you two are enjoying my domain." A female voice said suddenly, the two maidens looking around in an attempt to see where the voice was coming from, though they didn't see anything else in their attempts. "It is true that this is a dream of yours, but this isn't a complete dream; it's a little complicated, but I'm happy to explain it to you two."

Reimu and Marisa then looked at the crescent moon in the distance, seeing a silhouette of maid. The silhouette suddenly vanished and reappeared back in front of the two girls, though she was still completely black from top to bottom; a living silhouette. She pinched the edges of her skirt between her fingers and did a curtsy.

"Hello, I am Mugetsu, a powerful and dangerous demon of dreams that created this dimension that you two are in." The silhouette, Mugetsu, explained as she stopped her curtsy. Even though she had no visible mouth or lips, even when she spoke, a huge white line, curved and like a smile, appeared on her face; looking as white as a pearl. "This is a different dream than the ones you are used to. usually in dreams, humans and youkai are able to achieve basically anything that they can imagine, but we natural creatures of dreams, such as dream demons or baku, can put limits on the dream selves of Sleepers. That is what we of the dream world call those of the waking world when they are asleep, Sleepers."

"So you let us have the ability to fly, but nothin' else?" Marisa accused of the dream demon. It was impossible to tell what Mugetsu was thinking, the demon keeping the featureless form of a silhouette, though that large smile of hers did slowly disappear.

"No no, that isn't the case." Mugetsu responded, shaking her hands in front of the two maidens. She then held her arms out towards Reimu and Marisa, her palms facing upwards towards the perpetual night of her dimension. A small magic wand appeared floating above her arms in a flash of light, along with a large, black and white yin-yang and a gohei. "These are your main items in the waking, yes? I know that even though you two are exceptionally powerful for humans, you both have trouble using them without the help of these items, right?"

"Yes." Marisa responded, taking her wand (or at least a dream replica of it) from the demon, smiling as she looked at the little star on top of it, though she soon started to frown. "It sucks like all Hell that I have such awesome magical abilities, but I can't use most of them without the help of a stupid little wand."

"How do you think I feel?" Reimu asked with a bead of sweat exiting her temple, taking the gohei and Yin-Yang Orb replica that Mugetsu created. The purple-haired maiden focussed on the orb, not feeling the presence or power of SinGyoku. Reimu frowned, knowing completely that this was nothing more than a fake that was created by an entity that Reimu is meant to exterminate. Though, it would have to do.

"You also have an unlimited amount of ofuda, just reach into your sleeves." Mugetsu said. Reimu reached into her sleeve, feeling familiar paper. Reimu pulled the paper out, seeing a piece of ofuda that was like real ofuda; surprising as it was created by a demon, who normally wouldn't survive creating ofuda. "Don't expect its holy effects to work, though. As a demon, I could only create the unlimited number as projectiles, but not as the holy talisman they usually are."

Reimu looked down at the ofuda; she is basically trapped in this dream, and the only way that she is sure of that she can escape is if the dream demon lets her escape. Well, even if they aren't holy, she can still use them as projectiles, meaning she could still use them to defeat the dream demon if she has to.

"Very well." The shrine maiden trainee responded simply, looking back at Mugetsu, the large, pearl-white smile reappearing on her face.

"Very good." Mugetsu responded, the demon letting out a high-pitched giggle as she flew backwards, creating a distance between her and the two maidens. The silhouette maid then outstretched her arms, seemingly literally standing on the air. "Now, you two will play in my game; a demon's game. You shall fight against my creations, and then you shall fight against me, and then, if manage to beat me, you fight..."

Mugetsu just let out another high-pitched giggle, sounding completely different from her usually grown up and smooth voice (even though she was approximately the same size as the two maidens, if not slightly taller), the demon vanishing.

"Be sure to have fun~." Mugetsu's disembodied voice said in a sing-song tone.

"Creations? Pfft, what creations?" Marisa said as she floated above Mugetsu's dimension. "I don't see any..."

Creatures began to suddenly appear within Mugetsu's dimension, arguable her aforementioned creations; it was hard to tell because they looked completely different from what the demon's dimension looked like. Some appeared from the trees, from under the rocks, appearing from the sky, or just materialising out of nowhere.

They varied from large, blue eyeballs that were shooting lightning out of the pupil; small, chubby, green-scaled drakes that were flapping their small wings like a bee to fly, shooting danmaku out of their mouths in the form of blue spheres; living fireballs of purple flames that had eyes and mouths that were completely black, giggling in a voice that was almost as high-pitched as the one Mugetsu used when she was giggling, albeit of a slightly lower pitch, shooting out small fireballs of purple fire; literal flying pigs with angel wings that were shooting out heart-shaped danmaku in heart-shaped patterns.

And other odd creatures.

"Well, this all just got weird." Reimu commented as she shot danmaku and threw ofuda at the creatures of Mugetsu's dimension, destroying all of them in one hit.

"Yeah, well what do you expect of a dream?" Marisa jested as she shot star-shaped danmaku at the dream creatures, destroying them easily as well.

* * *

The two demon sisters watched from within the crescent moon as many of Mugetsu's creations - really just plagiarised creations of creatures that Mugetsu saw in the dreams of humans, particularly that of children and weirdos - continued to appear in her dimension, only to be destroyed quickly by the two Sleepers.

"It seems you've set up a good game, Sister." The elder sister said, sipping from a cup of tea as she looked at Mugetsu, the demon now no longer covered by a blackness that made her a silhouette, watching the battle excitedly. "But I must know, why did you appear before them as a living silhouette?"

"Oh, it's simple, Sister." Mugetsu responded, not taking her eyes off the screen for even a second, picking up a biscuit without looking and shoving it in her mouth. "I wanted to look cool in front of them, make them anticipate my true appearance before they fight me; give them some pizzazz. Y'know, I just wanted to look cool."

"I personally think that if you really wanted to look cool, you would stop cosplaying as a maid." The elder sister mumbled, looking back at the battle as Marisa was unleashing a gigantic tornado of fire against a bunch of flying, acid-shooting spiders and flying, disembodied red lips and teeth, while Reimu was using a Fantasy Seal to destroy a bunch of giant sheep that were seemingly asleep, floating in the air and shooting wide bursts of danmaku, despite being asleep, the sheep destroyed by the Fantasy Seal. "My, they sure are powerful."

"I know, right? It's so awesome~!" Mugetsu responded, still not taking her eyes off the screen as a bunch of giant serpents with rainbow-coloured scales had burst out of the ground, hissing with their big mouths wide, firing a huge torrent of dense and multicoloured danmaku. The elder sister looked back towards her younger sibling, the maid-cosplaying demon now having a more menacing expression on her face. "But the fun is merely beginning~."

* * *

 **And thus ends the thirty-third chapter, AKA the prelude to the battle against the demon sisters, 'cause even though I originally intended for this chapter to contain a battle against Mugetsu (at the least), but this ended up being too long (at least with the word count per chapter that I have already said that I've set up), so here this is.**

 **I could just extend this chapter to being even longer, maybe even over 10,000 words long, but this isn't one of those stories, so here this is.**

 **I decided to make Mugetsu's dream world look similar to the real world, albeit with something about it that is off, that is the whole thing of it being like a painting made with darker colours, or at least darker shades. As for the creatures of her world, I didn't really want them to be the same kind of enemies shown earlier in this fanfic, so I decided to be creative and weird with the creatures and give them somewhat odd designs. So if you thought that some of the creatures that appear in Mugetsu's world were weird, then good, 'cause that was kind of the point of them.**

 **As for Mugetsu and Gengetsu, they're like what they are in the original game, as in that they have nothing to do with the plot, or Yuuka; they're simply demons that are bored and have been watching Reimu and Marisa (and Gensokyo as a whole) for a while, and thus they have picked the two to fight.**

 **As already explained in the chapter, the two are dream demons, dwellers of the Dream World that are capable of making their own dimension within the place, as well as take the dream selves of people (a different kind from what we see in Antimony of Common Flowers) into their dimensions to play with them, as well as they can place, limitations on those in the dream worlds, since everyone in the Dream World who's sleeping has basically limitless powers in when in that world.**

 **Mugetsu and Gengetsu can cross the boundary between the Dream World and waking world, so they will appear in Gensokyo (for reasons), but they are mostly living in the Dream World.**

 **And yeah, Mugetsu appearing before Reimu and Marisa was something that I thought up a while before writing this chapter, and I thought it would look cool (in a sense) so I put it in like that.**

 **Also two more character of the Windows era made a cameo in this chapter, did you spot them~?**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	34. Illusion of a Maid

"Damn, what's with all these weird things?!" Marisa yelled as she casted Stardust Reverie at the latest creatures that appeared within Mugetsu's dimension, that being more of the blue eyeballs that shoot lightning and some other stuff, such as these cotton bunny dolls that summoned magic circle that shot lasers and floating tigers without any lower halves, wielding spears that shot out pointed danmaku. Of course the massive plethora of star-shaped danmaku razed them all, and even destroyed their danmaku in the process, but it didn't change the fact that many more creatures, such as these weird creatures with the bodies of fairies, but also the heads of cats, that appeared shortly afterwards and began shooting danmaku at her. "Just what kind off weird imagination does that demon have?!"

"I think the time for asking questions is later!" Reimu yelled back towards her friend, using a barrier to protect the both of them from the danmaku coming from the serpents as she simultaneously shot holy danmaku at them. It was a very fortunate thing that the rainbow-scaled creatures were unable to stretch even further out of the ground, or even leave the ground, so there was that. They didn't have to worry about the giant reptiles attacking them and swallowing them, only firing danmaku. "It's a bit hard to focus on both question answering and fighting against these things."

"Jeez, have you ever heard of multitaskin'?" Marisa asked, the magician protégé shooting a ton of her danmaku at a bunch of giant, flying cat heads and living teacups with faces.

"I usually am either getting rid of annoying problems _or_ answering questions." Reimu responded simply as she created her artificial yin-yang and threw them towards the serpents, the yin-yang even sometimes bursting into smaller yin-yang that darted in all directions, managing to create clear, clean holes in the serpents, especially as some swallowed the orbs. However, they managed to survive such injuries. "I rarely ever have to do both."

"Well then, looks like you need lessons." Marisa responded happily and cheerily, firing an endless barrage of stars and lasers at a bunch of flying, living black sludge, bats of different colours with claws were their feet should be, flying fish with wings and a bunch of laughing, flying cubes.

"What, does Mima teach you that among magic?" Reimu asked, keeping the barrier active to stop the serpents' danmaku, even though it was starting to drain her on her energy, shooting more danmaku at the creatures, some of them falling unconscious and disappearing in puffs of smoke as they couldn't take it anymore.

"Nah, it's just a thing that you naturally know." Marisa responded casually as even more odd creatures of Mugetsu's imagination came flying towards the maiden duo. Marisa just pointed her wand towards them. " Burst Dragon. Well, 'cept for you."

"Marisa...!" Reimu responded darkly, giving her friend a slight glare, destroying more of the serpents with her danmaku.

"'Ey, you wanted me to be more honest an' all that." Marisa shrugged, a giant, black-furred, red-eyed bunny rabbit with a pink bowtie and scissor hands appearing behind her, the spellcaster casually destroying the thing with a large star danmaku from her wand. Marisa ignored the creature that she destroyed, putting her wrists against her hips, leaning towards her friend, a large grin stretched across her face. "If you wanted me to be more honest, then you should be prepared for some painful truth."

"I know you're just doing this to annoy me." Reimu responded, simply destroying the rest of the serpents with more artificial yin-yang that exploded into more yin-yang, without even looking at them as she continued to look at Marisa.

Marisa just snorted, the magician turning around with her back upright, her fingers intertwined behind her back. "Honest or not, there's still a kernel of truth in it." The blonde said.

The two maidens were surrounded by many more odd creatures, the sheer number and diversity of them being too much for them to be properly described. But neither Reimu or Marisa really cared as they continued to exchange banter, while simultaneously destroying Mugetsu's creations with ease.

* * *

"My, they're just destroying them without real effort." The elder sister commented, fitting a chocolate cookie into her mouth, crunching on it as she watched the display on the screen. "It seems as though they aren't even seeing it as a warm up, they're just talking with each other while obliterating everything that you've sent towards them."

The elder sister looked at Mugetsu, the maid-like demon no longer looking as excited, though she didn't look angry either. "Oh well, it's not like I cared much for them, anyways." Mugetsu responded, the demon leaning back in her comfy wooden armchair, her arms stretched behind her back. "Their basically cannon fodder, and even then their less than that. They're like poorly made chess pieces that would be thrown away in the trash, regardless of what they do. If those two humans destroy them all, I don't give a damn."

Mugetsu had her eyes closed as drank her tea, no longer focussing on the battle on the screen. The elder sister looked at her younger sister before looking back at the screen, seeing the battle that was happening between the duo and Mugetsu's creations.

Or lack thereof.

"Sister..." The elder sibling spoke as she looked at the result. "They've defeated them all."

Mugetsu promptly spat out her tea, the liquid passing through the screen with ease. She proceeded to look at the aforementioned screen, seeing that the two girls were there alone, the forest around them destroyed, with only the lake remaining. The two were talking, with the shrine maiden trainee looking annoyed with the magician as she just grinned at her friend's ire.

"I see..." Mugetsu said, the demon smiling again. "But it's no matter, I still have one creature left. And it's the one that I created purely by myself."

"Oh, it's your original creation?" The elder daughter asked, her eyes widening slightly with interest. "If I remember correctly, it's your strongest creation; it's the one you show actual interest in."

"Yeah. Making any of my creations in general takes a bit of time, but I spent hours making this one." Mugetsu replied, looking at the lake shown on the screen. "Especially since I made this completely of my own imagination."

* * *

"I swear, sometimes I wonder why we're friends..." Reimu grumbled, massaging her temples to calm her nerves, her face scrunched in a cringe of annoyance.

"It's 'cause you love me, Eggplant~." Marisa responded playfully, wrapping an arm around the other girls neck and hugging her.

"That's not going to make anything better." Reimu mumbled, pushing her other friend away and turning her back to her, though Marisa just merely hugged her again. As the two girls were still caught up in their conversation, they didn't notice the water of the lake rippling. At least, they didn't notice the sound until it started to become very audible, with the water rippling with enough intensity to cause it to wash over the border of the lake.

Reimu and Marisa both looked at it with mild curiosity and wonder, knowing that it was going to be another enemy; it is a demon's personal dimension, after all.

A giant shark appeared from the large lake, its body covered with dozens of red eyes. It opened its large mouth, revealing an endless row of sharp teeth, like that of sword blades. Among that it dark blue skin, its large fins stretching out, looking like you could put a house on them. It let out a loud roar, even though both Reimu and Marisa were certain that such a thing shouldn't be possible. The eyes on the front of the shark's head then looked towards the two maidens.

Immediately the shark began to fire danmaku from the eyes pointing towards Reimu and Marisa as the rest of its eyes didn't blink. The two humans dodge the danmaku with ease, though they didn't bother to fight back, merely just looking at the creature as they dodged the simple pattern of red danmaku that it kept on firing towards them.

But the shark grew impatient and flew forward, its mouth quickly surrounding the two flying humans, looking like nothing but a black abyss that not even a shred of light could pass through; an inescapable trap.

The shark closed its mouth around the two, trapping them within it.

The shark merely blinked as its prey was nowhere in sight; eaten in a single gulp.

The shark suddenly felt an intense pain in its stomach, the creature rumbling before it exploded, being left as nothing but a pile of purple smoke. The smoke cleared, revealing Reimu and Marisa, completely unscathed.

"See? I told you that a simple Fantasy Seal was enough to destroy it." Reimu said to Marisa, holding an ofuda in one of her hands.

* * *

"Well... That was anticlimactic." The elder sister remarked as she looked at the screen. She shifted her golden eyes towards her younger sister, a snort escaping the dream demon as she saw the look of disbelief on her face. "Careful with that face, we may be demons but even we can have our faces stuck in an expression for all eternity."

Mugetsu shook her head side to side at high-speeds; shaking it like a dog that just got drenched in water. "I can't believe it!" She yelled angrily, loosing her cool guise. "I put so much effort into that creature, I used up so much of my magic... And they just destroy it in one fell swoop?!"

"Well, only one of them really did anything, as far as we're sure." The elder sister mumbled, quickly consuming another jam tart.

"Quiet, Sister...!" Mugetsu grumbled through gritted teeth, giving her elder sibling a slight glare; she may respect her for being older and stronger, but she sure could be annoying at times. Mugetsu then brushed and straightened her hair and her maid outfit, the demon snapping her fingers, turning into a silhouette again. "Nevertheless, they're sure to believe that I'm weak with all those creations of mine that they destroyed. Well, it's time to show them what the second most terrible, most fearful demon of the Dream World."

Mugetsu then snapped her fingers again, the demon vanishing and no doubt reappearing back outside of her and her sister's hideout in the crescent moon.

* * *

"Sheesh, I expected more of a challenge." Marisa said as she looked around the damaged dimension - the aforementioned dimension somehow repairing as broken trees reattached themselves and rock regrew, the process continuing until it looked like the battle never happened in the first place. "With all that talk 'bout being a dream demon that can control what a human can do in their dreams, you'd think her creations would be stronger."

"Don't be so cocky, Sleeper." Mugetsu's voice spoke without the apparent appearance of the demon, the woman appearing before the two, above the large lake and in front of the crescent moon, keeping her body in silhouette form. "Creation is not the forte of my species, especially living beings. I may have created this entire dimension single-handedly with my magic, but creating living life is a bit of something different than creating a dimension."

"Yeah, well I'll still blast you to bits." Marisa responded, pointing her magic wand (or just a dream replica of it) at the silhouette. "What about you, Reimu~?"

"I see no other way out of here." Reimu responded with a dismissive shrug, holding the fake gohei and ofuda in her hands, the copies of the Yin-Yang Orb floating around her. "I love a good sleep, but I don't want to risk being kept in this sleep for all eternity, so I'm ready to fight you."

"I never said I would keep you here for an eternity..." The silhouette mumbled, a large bead of sweat falling down the side of her head. "But that doesn't matter. Prepare, for you are to see the true form of Mugetsu!"

The living silhouette was surrounded by a glowing sphere of pink colour, the sphere growing a darker shade of pink - and yet, in a contradiction, it glowed brighter - as it closed in on the demon more and more. There was a large flash of light as it was completely impossible to see the demon's form through the sphere. Reimu and Marisa had to close their eyes, the two maiden blinking to get rid of odd, squiggly circles that were in their eyes, finally seeing Mugetsu's full form.

She had short, blonde hair and golden eyes, simply wearing a pink and blue maid outfit; in fact, she looked like she was nothing more than a maid. "Speechless, I see." Mugetsu said as the two humans were silent, her hands akimbo as a smug smirk appeared on her face. "I know, this form is just far more terrifying and awesome than anything your tiny human imaginations can comprehend."

 **Fearsome Maid of Dreams**

 **Mugetsu**

"...That pretty disappointing." Reimu commented, causing Mugetsu to look at her incredulously. "I knew you had a silhouette of a maid, but I thought I'd see something completely different with that talk about you having a 'true form', as you called it."

"Yeah, you're not intimidating. You're actually kinda silly lookin'." Marisa said, causing Mugetsu's face to twist in annoyance, the demon hopping that she could have amazed the two maidens with her appearance. Though in hindsight, they've basically fought more intimidating-looking things in the past. "Even the big bomb that I keep under my bed scares me more than you do. And I only think that Mimi-Chan is adorable."

Mugetsu started making incoherent noises before turning her back towards the duo, blushing in embarrassment. "Well neither of you two have any real taste." The blonde responded in embarrassed annoyance. "If you two were older and had a higher taste for the arts, you would be impressed by my splendour."

"There's no splendour in your maid appearance." Marisa responded, her lack of a smirk being a sign that she was completely serious and truthful; she wasn't doing this for the sake of annoying Mugetsu. "Maids are pretty uncool, really. How can someone in a tiny skirt that just lives to serve others look intimidating in any sense of the word?"

"Maids can be plenty of cool, you little brat!" Mugetsu yelled at the human, pointing at her. "Mark my words, one day you will come across a maid that will make you think of nothing other than them being cool. And when that day inevitably happens, I'll be pointing and laughing at you."

Marisa just snickered. "Okay, that's a golden joke." The little girl responded, pointing her wand towards the dream demon. "The only one here that will do the pointin' and laughin' is me, at you."

"All this maid talk is just pointless." Reimu mumbled, the shrine maiden trainee throwing her fake ofuda and shooting her danmaku at Mugetsu. The dream demon wasn't prepared for the attack, so it had of course hurt her. Though she should consider herself lucky that Reimu's unlimited supply of ofuda in her dream world is merely fake ofuda - if it were real ofuda, with holy energy imbued into the paper, then Mugetsu would have quickly been defeated.

The maid-like demon was quick, teleporting away and appearing somewhere else from Reimu and Marisa's sides.

"Well, you're impatient, aren't you, Reimu?" Mugetsu said, the demon letting out a laugh. "Though I must thank you, I almost forgot about the battle. Now, to show you the power of a dream demon that has given nightmares to countless humans; children and adult alike~!"

Mugetsu shot a burst of multiple danmaku in the simple white pellet form, spinning around in a spiral, before letting out a huge burst of blue danmaku in an almost perfect ring formation, the demon then teleporting to the side, shooting out blue danmaku in the form of two lines - like what Yuuka had used - while simultaneously shooting out an expanding circle of golden, star-shaped danmaku that spun around in their pattern of an expanding circle.

Reimu and Marisa both kept calm and serious faces as they began to fight against the maid-cosplaying demon as they dodged her danmaku, while also shooting out their own danmaku. Mugetsu strangely seemed like she had no interest in dodging their danmaku, the demon more focussed on merely hitting the two of them and preferring to just withstand their attacks.

Mugetsu then teleported back to above the lake where she appeared, conjuring little, yellow danmaku balls that flew towards her left and right, shooting towards the maiden duo.

"You see~?" Mugetsu said playfully, teleporting away once again, even though she still showed no intention to actually dodge the danmaku. "This is the danmaku that has given nightmares to many that have fought it."

"If that is enough to give 'em nightmares, they must be afraid of their own shadows." Marisa responded smugly as she squeezed through the danmaku, the magical bullets grazing her body... Or the dream version of it, at least. "You gotta try harder than that."

Mugetsu paused, the demon even ceasing her danmaku temporarily stopping before she burst out into laughter. "Fool, this is only the tip of iceberg of the horror of my danmaku." Mugetsu responded, suddenly releasing a large, almost impassable sea of red danmaku towards the two maidens, the demon letting out a maniacal laugh. "Now it's time that you two drown in my nightmare~!"

Reimu sent a glare towards Marisa. "You just had to provoke her, didn't you?" The shrine maiden trainee said in her friend.

Reimu and Marisa then avoided the danmaku sent flying towards them, the sea only being almost inescapable, though the two kept on getting hit by some of the danmaku, burning their clothes and skin slightly, though they just kept on shooting danmaku at Mugetsu while avoiding the red bullets she was sending towards them.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, the glowing yin-yang appearing around her and destroying the danmaku made by the maid-like demon, though luckily Marisa was unscathed by the Fantasy Seal, the aforementioned attack flying towards Mugetsu. The dream demon was actually snapped out of her insanity by the Fantasy Seal as she saw it flying towards her. Mugetsu had escaped the Fantasy Seal just in time as she teleported away from it. The demon teleporting herself a distance from the attack as it exploded.

Mugetsu let out a sigh of relief. "I think there was actual holy energy in that... That would have really hurt...!" The blonde breathed as she kept her hand on her chest, feeling her heart hit against her chest with fierce intensity. The maid-cosplaying woman then looked to her side to see something covered in a blue glow flying towards her. "What the...?"

Marisa hit Mugetsu with a Flashing Comet, the demon sent flying through the air of her dimension. Mugetsu forced herself to stop, only to get hit by Marisa once again as she kept her Flashing Comet spell active. Mugetsu tried to teleport away from the blonde-haired magician, the demon being hit by ofuda thrown by Reimu. They actually hurt a lot less than the comet used by Marisa, though that it mostly because the talismans aren't holy.

Marisa stopped, loosing the blue glow that surrounded her body. "Amazing, even without my broomstick I can cast Flashing Comet." Marisa commented, looking down at her body, moving her arms and legs oddly. "Though it felt kinda weird, especially because I had to basically flatten my arms against my body and my legs against each other."

"Yeah, I guess it's interesting..." Reimu mumbled, the shrine maiden trainee not having as much knowledge on magic as Marisa and Mima and the like. The trainee then looked back at Mugetsu, the maiden keeping her fake gohei and ofuda in her hand. "But for now, we should focus on this demon; if she wants us to play with her, then we'll play with her."

Reimu made the Yin-Yang Orb move in front of her, the orb turning into one. Reimu swung her gohei hard against the Yin-Yang Orb replica, sending it flying towards Mugetsu. The demon teleported out of the way, releasing more expanding circles of blue danmaku and spiralling white danmaku.

Reimu just kept calm and kept swinging the Yin-Yang Orb towards Mugetsu, the holy item replica destroying the danmaku that got in its way, the shrine maiden trainee also throwing her endless supply of fake danmaku at Mugetsu. Marisa had also sent endless star-shaped danmaku and lasers towards the demon. Mugetsu seemed to be fine with getting hit by the danmaku and ofuda, but the Yin-Yang Orb was a different story entirely.

Mugetsu kept on teleporting away from the yin-yang whenever it got away, or just do practical dodging.

"Hey, Eggplant, I think you should stop using that orbs of yours." Marisa said as she shot more and more stars from her magic wand, the magician also using multiple magic circles to shoot out lasers. "It seems like those are the only things makin' her dodge."

"I... I guess you're right." Reimu responded, catching the Yin-Yang Orb as it floated back to her. It was strange; she didn't feel a connection to this yin-yang, like she did with the one in the real world, but it would still fly back to her after use. Maybe Mugetsu just made it to work like the real one... Though that begs the question as to why she was so adamant about dodging it.

Reimu somehow managed to make the replica turn into two pieces; she does know that she wanted it to separate into two versions, but she didn't feel the link she had with the real one.

The shrine maiden trainee shook off the thought, merely firing danmaku at Mugetsu as she continued to fire danmaku at the two. The maid-like demon went for a completely different approach this time, releasing a large burst of expanding circle danmaku from all around her, the danmaku moving at fast speeds that made them almost impossible for them to dodge. And even then, they kept on getting hit by some of the danmaku. It was odd, like the demon was rather easy, and yet it would also be the first one to defeat them as a duo.

Though they are fighting her in a dream, and presumably nothing bad will happen when they lose, so they could just forfeit it...

...But pride and a desire to win were just to overwhelming.

Mugetsu had surprisingly stopped the large burst rather quickly, even though it was noticeably doing better damage against the duo then earlier attacks from before, Maybe it just took up a lot of energy to use it. Once again, Reimu knows nothing about magic... even though she sometimes likes to think about having it.

"My, you two are indeed strong." Mugetsu commented, the demon sitting on thin air as she looked at them. "I have already seen you, Reimu Hakurei, defeat Mima and that dimension-hopping human named Yumemi, and I've even heard that you bested Konngara, an oni who is known as one of the strongest in Gensokyo's history, and you even managed to defeat Sariel, who is said to almost be on the same level as Shiki herself."

"Wait. Sariel? Shiki? Why haven't you been tellin' me 'bout this, Eggplant?" Marisa asked, glaring at her shrine maiden trainee friend with her knuckles against her hips. "I don't know who they are, but if she's comparing them to Mima, then they hav'ta be powerful. Why didn't you tell me about them?!"

"I don't quite know them myself." Reimu responded nervously, scratching the side of her head as a large bead of sweat fell down from her temple. "We're going to have to remember to ask Gramps when we wake up."

"And you, Marisa Kirisame," Mugetsu said as she looked at the blonde magician, keeping her hands folded in front of her, which made her look even more like a maid; whenever that was intentional or not is unknown. "You have been trained by none other than Mima, who is among some of the strongest magicians and wizards to live - even though Konngara is right that there are others that far surpass her - and you have impressed her, even though she likes to hide it most of the time. Even though you have failed to defeat her, you are still on an equal level as Reimu, and you have helped her in defeating the greatly powerful Yuuka Kazami."

Mugetsu seemed to stop, though she didn't pause; the demon just looking at the two humans. Reimu and Marisa looked at each other and back at the non-human, feeling awkward that she seemed to stop her words out of nowhere.

Mugetsu then let out a laugh. "It's actually rather humorous, I should have known that you would have most likely been too much of a match for me, at least when combined." The demon laughed. It wasn't the same high-pitched giggle she let out earlier when she was a silhouette, it wasn't even creepy at all. In fact, it was actually rather funny. She even had to wipe away a tear of joy. "I honestly should have just picked one of you two, how silly of me."

"Well, this is a sudden change..." Reimu commented, looking at the laughing demon awkwardly; she honestly wanted to just go back to a dream of being in a world of sweets - sweets that she can eat without having to worry about her weight or her teeth.

"So are you just givin' up?" Marisa asked of Mugetsu, the demon's laughs slowly dying out. "I mean, it's usually bad to just give up a fight because you're losing. But this is Reimu an' me... I wouldn't blame you if you think we are too much for a demon like yourself to handle."

Mugetsu looked at Marisa silently before laughing once again. "No, I'm not done yet. I still have a trick up my sleeve." The demon responded, crossing her arms over her chest in an x formation. "Prepare, for my last attack; prepare to lose~!"

Mugetsu let out a line of white danmaku that was like the swirling attack she used earlier, though this time she was also using her blue danmaku that took the form of two line respectively. And it also seemed to continue to happen without stop.

* * *

The elder sister watched the battle near its end as Reimu and Marisa dodged her younger sibling's danmaku, the two humans firing their own magical bullets back at her. The elder sister sighed, putting her teacup back down on the coaster.

"Well now, Sister, it looks like my time to play is starting to begin." The elder sister said as she stood up from her chair, looking at the screen. She could see that Mugetsu could only take a few more seconds of Reimu and Marisa's barrage of attacks, She was obviously becoming tired and would no longer be able to battle as sweat was starting to drench her body, her breaths becoming less frequent and requiring more effort as she was on the verge of defeat. "I hope you had fun, Sister."

She continued to remain standing up, watching the screen; waiting for her sister to become defeated so she can teleport out of the crescent moon and begin her own battle. It happened within seconds; Mugetsu stopped firing danmaku, in fact all of her danmaku just vanished into pure mana, the demon falling down to the ground as she no longer had any strength left.

"Pichuun~!" Reimu said as the defeated demon fell to the ground.

"How long has it been since she last said that?" The elder sister mumbled, shaking her head to bring herself back to her senses. "Never mind, it's time I made my appearance. And maybe I'll be able to show you what a true grand entrance looks like, Sister."

The elder sister then vanished completely.

* * *

"Ha, don't feel so bad 'bout being beaten up by us~." Marisa said, a large grin on her face as she looked at Mugetsu, the demon sitting on her ground, looking up at the two maidens as they continued to float above the ground, the maid-cosplaying entity covered in dirt and bruises. "Eggplant and I are an invincible force; even the gods themselves better fear what we are."

Mugetsu remained quiet, the demon then letting out a hysteric laugh once again.

The two girls raised an eyebrow at her.

"What is so funny this time?" Reimu asked, not liking the feeling she was getting from the demon's nonstop laughing.

"I never said that defeating me would be the end of this dream." Mugetsu responded, calming down. "I'll tell you a little secret about myself: I'm the second most terrible, most fearful demon in the Dream World."

"Oh, then I guess the Dream World is lackin' nightmares." Marisa commented, looking boredly at the endless night sky of endless stars before looking back at the blonde demon. "If you're the second scariest thing in the dreams of people, then who is the number one? They're probably not all that frightening."

"The most terrible, most fearful demon in the entire Dream World; A Nightmare that Spares No One; The Scourge of Dreams..." A sudden voice spoke. Reimu and Marisa were startled by the voice, if only for a second, looking around, seeing the lake and the crescent moon above it once again. "That is I."

She had yellow eyes and yellow hair, a ribbon in her hair, her body surrounded by a pink and white dress. On her back were large, white wings, like that of an angel. She looked rather short, in fact she looked like a little girl; younger than Mugetsu. She looked at the two humans and smiled, doing a curtsy.

 **Fearsome Angel of Nightmares**

 **Gengetsu**

"Greetings, I am Gengetsu: the older sister of Mugetsu, and the most terrible, most fearful demon of the Dream World." She said in a calm and inviting manner, the angel-like demon stopping her curtsy and smiling at the maidens; at first she still looked kind as she smiled, but her same expression started to twist into a more evil smile. "And I welcome you to my nightmare~."

* * *

 **And now I'm ending this chapter here because this felt like a good moment to stop at.**

 **With Gengetsu now making her more than likely appearance, it's time that Reimu and Marisa fight one of the most infamous bosses in Touhou history; may the gods of mercy be on their side. Though I can confirm that they won't have to go through the infamous Gengetsu Rape Time, 'cause I don't know how I can put it in the story, especially since I don't know why Reimu and Marisa would stop shooting at her to trigger it.**

 **Gengetsu is hopefully going to be a harder challenge and a longer chapter, since Gengetsu is meant to be stronger. The idea that Mugetsu and Gengetsu are the second most terrible, most fearful demon of the Dream World and the first one respectively is meant to be based on ZUN's music comment of Gengetsu being 'the most terrible, most fearful boss'. Whenever the two sisters have a relationship with Doremy Sweet, I don't know. Though I can confirm that Doremy is stronger, as she is meant to be the 'Ruler of Dreams'.**

 **The next chapter is more or less the last chapter of the Lotus Land Story arc, in which we will start entering the Mystic Square arc, in which I hope I remember what I have planned for the arc. I'm sure it's probably going to be long with a lot of chapters, and probably longer chapters, if that's how it'll turn out.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	35. Under a Dream Moon, Under the Real Sun

Reimu and Marisa looked at the demon floating in front of them, her appearance being the exact opposite of what one would expect a demon to look like. Even with that supposedly evil expression on her face, she still looked rather cute with how young she looked. She was wearing a pretty dress and had angel-like wings, and she even looked younger than Reimu and Marisa. Reimu may have already had experience with fighting youkai and demons that look like young girls, but this Gengetsu was something else.

And yet, she is apparently the most terrible, most fearful demon in the Dream World; she's basically meant to be the most horrifying nightmare imaginable.

But then again, she looked like she could never be scary or intimidating...

"No offense, but you're even less scary than your sister." Marisa deadpanned, causing Gengetsu to lose her smile as she looked at Marisa with a rather impassive expression.

"Excuse me?" The demon asked in response.

"I just mean you're totally not scary, t'sall." Marisa shrugged in response, not having a large smirk on her face as she was being honest about her opinion. "Your sister at least looks like she's more grown up, you look like you're younger than me. I'm basically an adult compared to you. I've had breakfasts that are more terrifying than you. You're meant to be the most terrifying thing in people's dreams?!"

"Indeed." Gengetsu answered simply, making a smile, floating slowly closer towards the two maidens. "I am considered to be a living nightmare, a creature that many remember as a traumatic dream they had as a kid. I am truly the most terrible demon in the Dream World."

"Oh really, is that so~?" Marisa asked, a smile appearing on her face. Reimu knew in an instant that her friend was planning something against Gengetsu. "Well if you dare to present to us why you're so terrifyin', we'll believe yo- Supernova Explosion!"

Marisa suddenly shot out a giant star-shaped danmaku of golden colour, the star hitting Gengetsu and making a giant explosion of intense heat, the force of the explosion actually pushing Reimu, Marisa and Mugetsu back, the last of the three even falling into the lake. There was a ton of smoke surrounding where the angel-like entity was, a result of the Supernova Explosion.

"...What was that?" Reimu responded, the spell that Marisa casted and its result happening too fast for her to fully comprehend, at least for now.

"It just hit her with an awesome spell that makes things go away with a big boom." Marisa responded cockily, tossing the wand up and down, the item spinning around as it was thrown back into the air. "It sometimes gets a little hard to remember all your spells when you know hundreds and thousands of them, but I luckily remembered Supernova Explosion. I just needed to get that demon to have her guard down, and then BOOM! If that didn't defeat her, it should make her much more easier to defeat~."

"That would be true, except there was a variable that you didn't expect, Magician." Gengetsu's voice said from within the cloud of smoke, the voice sounding fine from the damage that was received. The smoke cleared, showing Gengetsu, the demon completely unharmed.

"Huh~?" Reimu and Marisa said in unison.

"I knew that you would think up something like this. Don't forget that I have watched you and your many fights, and I'm one of the reasons why you are here, Sleeper." Gengetsu said, the blonde demon raising one of her arms up, her hand leaning back and pointing up to the sky. Gengetsu was surrounded by a translucent, dark purple sphere - a shield; a shield that she used to protect herself. Gengetsu undid the sphere, a large smile appearing on her face as she looked at the bewildered and shocked Sleepers. "I was still prepared for you to unleash a spell like that, as I know you would take the opportunity. But I can create a powerful shield, with ease in fact. It may take up a lot of energy and makes any of the spells used when it's active weaker, but it's invulnerable."

"Huh, so you are stronger than your sister." Marisa commented, the magician protégé smirking again. "Though I guess it isn't too high of a bar."

"You're being rather cruel today..." Reimu commented to her friend, a large sweat-drop falling down the side of her face.

Mugetsu flew out of the lake, her damaged demon form floating only slightly above the water, a faint ripple coming from the body of water as she floated above it. "I tell you, you'll one day understand how cool maids can be." The demon said to Marisa. "She'll have cool powers and cool weapons, and you'll be looking back on this moment and know that I am right!"

"Please, Sister, just rest yourself. Sit back in the moon." Gengetsu said softly to her younger sibling, the angel-like demon actually sounding concerned for the other demon. Reimu and Marisa were confused by Gengetsu's speech about the moon.

"No, Sister, I want to see this inevitably awesome battle up close." Mugetsu responded, the demon snapping her fingers, a white and pink sun chair materializing into existence behind her, also floating slightly above the lake with a faint ripple of water. Mugetsu rested leisurely on the floating sun chair, making a silver tray of cookies and biscuits appear and float beside her. "C'mon, Sister, show them how strong you are. You two better be prepared, 'cause my sister is multiple levels stronger than me."

"Well then, let's not just waste time talkin'." Marisa said, pointing her wand at Gengetsu again. "C'mon, Reimu, let's beat her like we've beaten everyone else."

"I guess there is no point in me trying to not fight, especially because I have no problem with fighting." Reimu shrugged, the shrine maiden trainee doing a small stretch with her arms, slight popping sounds coming from the joints in her shoulders. "Okay, let's get this over with a see what you are capable of. It doesn't matter, we'll still beat you, but be sure to keep it entertaining."

Gengetsu swiped her hand across the air, everything within Mugetsu's dimension - the ground, the trees, the lake, the distant mountains; all but the moon and stars and the two humans and demon sisters themselves - evaporated, becoming a dense, white mist before that mist had disappeared in seconds, leaving the four floating in a dimension of distant stars and a crescent moon. Reimu and Marisa were both taken by surprise, looking around to see that the dimension had almost been changed completely. The demons sisters chuckled at the humans' reaction, especially the younger sibling as she still lounged on her chair and stuck a chocolate biscuit in her mouth.

"Whoa, she just...!" Marisa said, unable to finish her sentence as she was still comprehending what happened. Even though she was floating in the air as it happened, and was unaffected by the dimension evaporating, it was still something that took her a while to completely comprehend.

"It's amazing, isn't it? My sister may be able to create a dimension of her own, but I can create one that is even bigger, and I can even manipulate this one." Gengetsu said in a voice that was both kind and prideful, her expression changing from smug to kind and back to smug in a loop of emotion. "You were already warned that I'm stronger than my sister, don't say that you weren't warned about my fearsome strength."

Reimu and Marisa were no longer looking around at the seemingly infinite and vast space of Mugetsu's dimension, the two maidens both looking at Gengetsu seriously, knowing that she is one of those enemies that must be defeated as soon as possible.

Gengetsu raised a hand high in the air, releasing a large ring of white danmaku that expanded outwards. Reimu and Marisa barely dodged the danmaku as they squeezed through the small holes in the dense danmaku, their bodies grazing the magical bullets.

The two human maidens didn't waste any time in shooting their own danmaku at Gengetsu, the demon taking the danmaku, lasers, and endless number of fake ofuda being hit against her. The blonde raised another hand into the air, releasing an odd wave of danmaku that went in all directions, even though Reimu and Marisa were in front of her. Despite the danmaku taking the form of small, white dots, they were very dense against each other, thus it was hard for the two humans to squeeze through them, at least this danmaku was a lot slower than the quick ring-shaped danmaku pattern.

Gengetsu suddenly teleported, just like her sister, appearing on another side of the field (if one could even call it that anymore). Gengetsu surrounded herself with dozens of tiny, purple dots, the dots turning into lasers that fired right at the two humans. Reimu and Marisa had of course kept shooting back as they dodged the danmaku, and of course Gengetsu was still just taking all of the danmaku that she was being hit with.

"To Hell with all of this regular danmaku dodging and firing!" Marisa yelled angrily as they continued to fly, the magician never feeling a moment where she felt odd from not using her broomstick to fly inside the Dream World. "Omnidirectional Concerto!"

Marisa waved her wand around, Gengetsu became surrounded by countless magic circles that seemed to be inescapable, the magic circles charging up magical energy as they prepared to fire lasers at the demon. Gengetsu surrounded herself with her dark purple shield, the invulnerable shield protecting her from the lasers flawlessly.

Gengetsu undone her shield as the spell ended, the demon proceeding to shoot out multiple danmaku in the shape of golden stars, usually being in the form of three different, long lines that bounced off the borders of the battle. Gengetsu was firing out white danmaku in the formation of an expanding circle, the same circle danmaku pattern thankfully being far less dense than the one the dream demon used earlier. It was in fact possible to dodge the danmaku, however it was still a nightmare, especially as the stars continued to bounce around.

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, summoning the colourful, glowing spheres that destroyed Gengetsu's danmaku, though the demon herself had protected herself with her shield, stopping the Fantasy Seal from hurting her.

"Damn, looks like she'll only let us fight her with our weaker danmaku." Marisa commented as Gengetsu unleashed a torrent of more white danmaku, the bullets being in the form of expanding rings. Marisa waved her wand, summoning two magic circles by her side that started shooting lasers at the demon, beams of magic that she predictably didn't dodge or try to protect herself from with a shield. "Well that's not too bad, it takes up a lot less energy. She'll learn how bad it is to underestimate our regular bullets."

"If that's the case, then it's a really good thing that my supply of ofuda is unlimited in this world." Reimu responded, throwing the fake paper charms at Gengetsu as the duplicates of the Fake Yin-Yang Orb shot danmaku at the same dream demon.

"Yeah, now if only those ofuda could work against demons like the real ones." Marisa snickered under her breath, causing Reimu to glare at her for a second before the shrine maiden trainee had to look back at Gengetsu as she began to let out more bursting danmaku in the form of enlarging rings, though the bullets were smaller this time, if only for Gengetsu to unleash yellow danmaku in the form of small spheres, much like her younger sister in the battle that happened barely even ten minutes ago.

"You know that I can hear you two talk, Sleepers." Gengetsu said as she pointed one hand towards the two maidens, releasing an expanding wave of bullets; starting with one, then three, then five, increasing by two numbers without seeming end. The speed of the bullets and how many more were appearing being comparable to the speed of tengu, especially one that really wanted to get somewhere, or get away from. All whilst, Gengetsu moved some of her hair out of the way of her ears, revealing them to be pointed. "Sharp ears bring sharp hearing; I head both of you like I'm standing right beside you."

"Well it's not like it was meant to be top secret, y'know." Marisa responded, giving Gengetsu a look of slight annoyance.

"It doesn't really matter, doesn't it?" Gengetsu responded, stopping her attack, even though Reimu and Marisa continued to fire danmaku and paper charms and lasers at her, though the dream demon merely shrugged. "Oh well, at least you've learnt something about my race of demons."

Gengetsu then pointed her other had towards the human duo, firing out red-coloured danmaku in a static pattern that was aimed to the side of the two maidens. Before Reimu or Marisa could question such an unorthodox attack, Gengetsu fired more danmaku from the same hand; blue and aimed right at the two.

Reimu reacted quickly, summoning a barrier that protected both her and Marisa. The shrine maiden trainee began to take rather deep breaths as the fight continued. The fight, and the one before it, were beginning to take their toll on her; she never really though that she could become tired when in a dream, especially as this form she is using isn't even her real form.

Reimu began to slowly hover towards the ground, her barrier disappearing as Gengetsu ceased her attack. The purple-haired shrine maiden trainee was beginning to look tired, her arms laying limp and weak by her side.

"Reimu...!" Marisa said worriedly, the magician looking at Gengetsu. The demon didn't spare this as a moment of mercy, showing some of her true mercilessness as the most terrible, most fearful demon of the Dream World, once again using that single-handed spell of an expanding number of danmaku bullets.

Marisa wrapped one of her short arms around Reimu's little form, the magician flying both of them out of the way. It seemed that Reimu was still using some of her energy to float in the sky, even as she looked like she was ready to fall asleep, making it easy for Marisa to move her out of the way of danmaku with her.

"Hey, Reimu, you feelin' okay?" Marisa asked her shrine maiden trainee friend.

"It's just... We really underestimated these two..." Reimu responded, the maiden hitting the side of her head with the gohei replica to wake her up more. Luckily, the attempt worked, though she still had a feeling of drowsiness surround her body like a coat.

"Are you ready to throw in the towel?" Gengetsu asked in a playful voice, though it seemed as though she was willing to let the trainee stop fighting.

"N... No." Reimu responded, the purple-haired girl returning her flying position to look like she was floating normally again "I don't... I don't give up. Even if I'm a trainee, a Hakurei shrine maiden never gives up, whenever it's an incident, disturbance or not, I won't give up... I want to win!"

"Oh my, that is the steadfast determination that I love in a human, though mostly because it can be both a great folly and something useful. It all just depends on what you're doing." Gengetsu responded, the demon raising her hand into the air, the distant stars from all around twinkling. "Take this as a reward for your great effort."

The stars from the distance began to shoot towards Reimu and Marisa, in the shape of star-shaped danmaku of medium size, darting towards the duo. Reimu and Marisa dodged the first one by the skin of their teeth, the two having to separate as many more of those stars came from all angles. Reimu became more and more awake as the attack continued, and she continued to dodge, the adrenaline pumping in her blood serving as a means to wake her up.

Reimu looked at Marisa as she continued to dodge the stars that were flying all around at random, worried for her friend. Marisa was seemingly dodging smoothly, the magician changing from focussing on shooting stars and lasers at the dream demon and dodging her attack. Marisa continued to wave her wand around, making many magic circles surround her so they can shoot the danmaku at Gengetsu, though she had to continuously recreate them as they were constantly destroyed by the stars that flew by, the multicoloured danmaku (?) breaking right through the circles.

Reimu reached into her sleeves as she continued to evade the stars flying at her, though it was still just barely as they kept on grazing her and damaging her clothes, even if they were dream replicas, feeling the fake ofuda come into existence between her fingers. Reimu then held out the magic charms in front of her, still in between her digits, a serious expression on her face as she looked up at Marisa.

The magician had her usual grin on her face; an expression of confidence and certainty. But, like her abilities of sight had suddenly increased, Reimu could see Marisa's face more up close; see her smile of confidence waver, the skin of her face becoming covered with droplets of sweat. Gengetsu began to summon regular, white danmaku and shoot them at Marisa, the demon keeping her attention on the magus as she was the only one attacking her. Reimu looked back at her ofuda, the shrine maiden trainee knowing that she just can't let her friend handle everything herself. Even with the still active power of the ofuda - that they were stronger than her regular danmaku - it still wouldn't help much against this powerful demon.

Reimu focussed on the fake ofuda, the shrine maiden trainee trying to converge her inherent holy power into them. She always did it when she made the regular ofuda back in the real world, but these being the result of a demon's enchantment, or something like that, put a feeling of hesitation in Reimu; a fear that the fake ofuda would be destroyed by the holy power that she tries to imbue into it, or that it simply won't work.

Reimu looked back up at Marisa, the struggle on her face becoming more and more noticeable as Gengetsu focussed more of the stars on her, the magician protégé having to focus less of her energy into spellcasting and more into dodging.

It was enough to make Reimu swallow that hesitation, the shrine maiden trainee focussing that holy power of hers into the fake talismans, a faint, white glow of holy energy make a tiny pulse within the paper.

The glimmer within all of them growing slightly with each pulse.

Mugetsu began to notice this as all of her sister's attention was on Marisa. The dream demon's wounds had all healed, even her maid dress had repaired, as she is not only a demon but is in a world that isn't as limited by the rule of reality. Technically she could stop the shrine maiden trainee from completely putting that holy energy into the ofuda, but, even though she had helped write them, she was still bound by the rules of her and her sister's game. As she has already had her turn and lost, she isn't allowed to interfere - she isn't even allowed to interfere if it is not her turn, period.

Besides, the trainee could hit her with that holy energy that she is putting in the ofuda, and it is much preferable that that doesn't happen.

So Mugetsu decided to remain on her sun chair, still eating her snakes like popcorn as she watched the duel with the surprise attack that is going to happen.

The ofuda between Reimu's fingers began to glow a holy light, shining in the trainee's face, though it thankfully wasn't blinding, or even damaging to her eyes. However, even as Reimu ceased to put her holy energy into the ofuda, it continued to glow even brighter.

Reimu narrowed her eyes, seeing tiny flakes of paper leaving the charms. It was obvious that these so-called ofuda were really created by the magic of a demon, thus they weren't able to fully contain the holy power that is meant to destroy them. The tiny flakes are a sign that the ofuda won't last long, that they will be destroyed by their own energy.

Reimu knew that time is a sparse thing with these pieces of paper, and that time would only grow smaller and smaller.

She knew not to be an idiot, at least for this moment of time, swing her arms towards the angel-like demon that wasn't aware of what she was doing, releasing the six ofuda from between her fingers, letting them fly towards her and hit Gengetsu in the back.

They made an explosion of holy light as they hit her back; it was either because the paper charms could no longer contain the energy or it was simply what happened when the ofuda hit her, but Reimu didn't care about that; she only cared if they had good results.

There was a few seconds of silence, before a sharp scream of pain broke through the air.

It obviously came from Gengetsu, the demon's back covered by a black colour that was like it was burned to a crisp, smoking coming from the back.

Not even her wings remained, and it would take a while before she would regain them (that is if they are a natural part of her being and not just a shapeshifting trick that she used to look like an angel).

Gengetsu was silent, the demon casually turning her head around a full one-eighty degrees to look at the part of her body damaged by the surprise holy attack. It was a sight that scared Reimu a bit, mostly because the sight of a human head that was the complete opposite way around as it should be was just rather disturbing, And the look of pure fear in her shrunken irises and pupils.

Gengetsu just kept her mouth wide open, another scream growing within her, though this one was rather angry.

It was easy for Reimu to come to the conclusion that Gengetsu is mad at her for the surprise holy attack, though in the trainee's opinion it was fare when compared to what the demon herself had done.

"Why you...!" Gengetsu growled through her teeth as she turned the rest of her body around to face towards Reimu.

"Supernova Explosion~!" Marisa yelled, taking the moment to shoot a giant star-shaped danmaku at Gengetsu, the demon not protecting herself with her shield this time. Gengetsu let out a yell of pain as the explosion happened where her back is, the piece of her demon body sensitive as it was still healing from the damage done by Reimu's holy power. The demon was left unconscious by the pain, falling down into the abyss beneath. Reimu kept her face scrunched as she looked at the unconscious demon, knowing that she would only be unconscious for a short while, and that the battle isn't over just yet.

"Damn, that was a smart thing you did there, Eggplant." Marisa said as she appeared in front of Reimu. It was clear that she was exhausted and was most likely keeping herself afloat in the air because of the adrenaline that was pumping her blood. Reimu would be worried for Marisa, but she is in the exact same boat as her friend. "How'd you even do that? I thought the ofuda in here didn't have holy energy in it."

"I just put my holy energy in the paper." Reimu responded as she put her hand in her sleeve again, an ofuda materializing into existence within her hand, which she pulled out. Reimu held it out between her and Marisa, the shrine maiden trainee focussing her holy energy into it like she did with the ones from before; a faint glow of white light glimmering into existence. "The ofuda that I use in the waking world are created by me putting my holy energy into them. Apparently the same principle applies with these, though there is a significant difference..."

"And what difference is that?" The spellcaster asked curiously.

The shrine maiden in training merely pointed at the dream ofuda, allowing the blonde magic user to see that it was breaking up in flakes. They both continued to watch it, seeing as too much of it broke and it was destroyed completely. A wispy pile of holy energy floated in the air as the pieces of paper began to evaporate, the magic that they are made of being destroyed by the energy. The wisp seemed to float there, its tiny tendrils reaching out slowly and weakly, the holy energy fading into death in front of the two girls eyes.

"These ofuda, imbued with holy power or not, are made by demonic magic." Reimu explained simply, looking back up at Marisa. "Since holy power is meant to kill demons and stop their magic, the ofuda can only last for a few second with the holy energy within them before they break apart. _That_ is the significant difference."

Gengetsu rose back up from the seemingly bottomless void, having regained consciousness from the two attacks done on her by surprise. "So it seems that you were able to do something that we didn't think was possible, Reimu Hakurei." Gengetsu said, the smoke still coming from her back, her wings having yet to repair from the holy energy that hit her in the back. "If such an action was against the rules of the game, then you would be disqualified immediately."

"Ah, and how would she be disqualified?" Marisa asked.

"By laser." Gengetsu responded calmly. The demon raised her hand towards the two maidens, a faint, blue glow coming from the palm, a smile growing on her face. "Though, even if you have yet to break the rules, that doesn't mean I can't use a laser."

A with that, Gengetsu fired a large beam of pure magic from her palm, the beam being almost as large as the Master Spark. Reimu and Marisa flew out of the way of the laser, the beam of pure magic grazing their bodies. Reimu and Marisa had their hearts punching against their chests temporarily, their hearts calming down as the shock of the laser calmed down.

"What was that?" Reimu asked.

"Nightmare Spark." Gengetsu answered with a large smile, raising a hand into the air, firing out countless white bullets that were so densely put together that it looked like they were lasers, the danmaku flying into the air, almost becoming impossible to see as they disappeared into the darkness above. Gengetsu pointed the same palm that the laser came from towards the two humans, the same glow coming from it. "I gave it this name because it is an attack that haunts the nightmares of countless danmaku players, the horror having forever stuck in their dreams. Nightmare Spark~!"

Gengetsu fired out her large laser once again, releasing multiple danmaku bullets from the same hand; small, white and sparsely placed. As the two humans avoided the laser, the bullets that Gengetsu fired into the sky earlier were beginning to fall down, trapping the two humans in a tight space between the many dense danmaku falling in a straight line. The Nightmare Spark began to die out as the danmaku vanished.

Gengetsu teleported somewhere around the field that they were fighting in, Reimu and Marisa began to fire danmaku at the demon as she released more bullets - ones shaped like blue knives - in a mass amount that went every which way.

Marisa was firing her usual star-shaped danmaku and lasers, and Reimu was using the bullets from the Yin-yang Orb replica, the danmaku which were replicas of her holy danmaku, the shrine maiden trainee also charging her holy energy into the fake ofuda. She knew that the paper would only last for a short time before the energy destroyed it, so she must throw them quick and make them count, especially as it was a rather taxing action to put all her holy energy into the talismans.

Gengetsu teleported around, firing danmaku into the air and firing another Nightmare Spark towards the two maidens.

Reimu and Marisa continued to fire their own projectiles as they avoided the danmaku and Nightmare Spark, Reimu in particular threw her ofuda towards Gengetsu as the paper started to flake apart.

Gengetsu quickly stopped her Nightmare Spark, summoning another shield that protected her from the holy ofuda. There was a bright explosion of holy light, causing everyone to close their eyes as it was blindingly bright.

Marisa and Reimu blinked away the circles in their eyes, focussing on Gengetsu, the angel-like demon even more affected by the light, as her demon senses are even more advanced than that of the two maidens. The two maidens were quick to take this moment of weakness of the demon's part, hitting her with potshots of danmaku, the magical bullets doing great damage to her as her guard was ultimately down.

Gengetsu groaned in pain, her body covered in damaged areas from the danmaku, the wounds quickly healing, though the holy damage done to her back was still there; the smoking black colour removed from her back, but her wings were still nowhere in sight.

"Geez, I didn't expect for this battle to be coming close to over so soon." Gengetsu said, her body completely healed with the exception of her angelic wings. The dream demon raised her hand into the air, a serious look in her golden eyes looking at them seriously. "It is time that I showed you my strongest attack, Sleepers. Good luck in overcoming this."

Gengetsu began to unleash multiple bursts of the same blue danmaku that singularly took on the form of two lines from all around her, moving at high speeds in a form of an expanding circle. Reimu and Marisa fired danmaku at the weakening demon, the blonde increasing her magical attack, changing it to make multiple lines of dense, white danmaku release in two forms from around her hand, multiple units of two, medium-sized, round danmaku that were put densely together shooting from around her.

The two sleeping humans were having much more trouble dealing with Gengetsu, the demon's danmaku hitting them more with more power than before.

The insides of Reimu and Marisa's bodies felt like they were burning as the weight of exhaustion was weighting down on them, even the adrenaline flooding through their veins wasn't aiding them in their mass exhaustion.

"Crap, if we don't do anythin' 'bout this soon, we're gonna lose...!" Marisa grumbled as she continued to shoot stars at the demon, who was seemingly putting everything in just withstanding their barrage whilst also making hers as strong as possible; staying completely still in her open range. Marisa moved an eyes towards Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee moving up and down and left and right as she shot danmaku at the demon Reimu had to quickly stop and charge up the holy energy into her ofuda, the trainee throwing the paper charm at Gengetsu, only for the demon to protect herself with a shield.

A thought occurred within Marisa. Even though she wasn't putting her energy into her broomstick, Marisa was still getting exhausted from all the magic and spells she was using against the dream demon. She knew she would get too exhausted to continue soon (even though this is meant to be a dream), and at the most her spells could only do a lot of damage against the demon.

Reimu on the other hand can basically attack her with what is like acid to demons by putting her holy energy into those ofuda, or just by using a Fantast Seal. Of course the use of a Fantasy Seal may be out of the question as Reimu was turning sluggish, her body even becoming unsteady in the faint moment that she would stop dodging the danmaku that was coming from every which way. Reimu was attempting to hit Gengetsu with holy ofuda, the shrine maiden trainee probably believing that hitting the demon with holy energy in the fake talismans would work, but every attempt was rendered meaningless as Gengetsu continued to summon her shield.

Marisa looked back at the demon as she once again used a shield to protect herself from the latest ofuda used by Reimu. It was clear that Gengetsu is growing tired from the battle as well, with her shield being no exception. But if Marisa were to guess who would lose from exhaustion first, she would bet that she and Reimu would be the ones.

Hell, even at this moment, Marisa felt like she needed to take a nap... Within her own dream!

They needed to end this soon, and Marisa knew that she needed Reimu to be the one...

Marisa raised her wand high, a bright, star-shaped danmaku appearing above the fake star on her wand, the magician shooting it towards Gengetsu. It seemed as though the demon was getting uncomfortable around powerful attacks, summoning her shield to stop what she saw as a powerful attack.

Luckily though for Marisa, she had predicted that the demon would reach this kind of desperation with how damaged she was becoming. The star wasn't an attack, it was something else - something that can still affect her, even with the shield.

"Hey, close your eyes." Marisa said as she floated beside Reimu.

"What?" Reimu asked. Marisa rolled her eyes and looked back at the star floating towards Gengetsu. Marisa closed her eyes and covered Reimu's with her hand. The shrine maiden trainee of course tried to physically rebel against the hand over her eyes, but was stopped as she noticed a bright light flash from between the digits.

Marisa moved her hand, showing that Gengetsu was covering her eyes with her hands, affected greatly by the light of the danmaku.

"Okay, we're going to have to end this quickly." Marisa said the Reimu, the blonde moving in front of the purple-haired. "I don't know how much longer I can keep fighting - I literally need to rest right now - so you're going to have to give out the final shot. Use that holy energy of yours, she's literally weak against it. I'm going to use the last of my energy to distract her; I could at least make her too weak to use that invulnerable shield of hers. I want you to use as strong of an attack as you can when that happens, before it's too late."

"I don't think I can cast another Fantasy Seal." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden trainee having quickly caught up with what her friend said. The purple-eyed trainee then reached into her sleeves, pulling out another ofuda. "But I can put all of my remaining energy into these. The ofuda won't last that long with the extra holy energy in them, especially because they're still made of demon magic. I'll have to be quick. Can that work?"

"Yeah." Marisa responded simply, the spellcaster looking back as Gengetsu recovered from the bright light attack. Marisa faced towards the dream demon, the aforementioned non-human resuming her danmaku attack. Marisa flied high into the air, not firing danmaku as she was trying to conserve her spare energy for the last spell. Marisa put her index finger and thumb into her mouth, letting out a shrill whistle that attracted the complete attention of Gengetsu. It was easy to bait the demon, she was able to keep herself calm less with all the exhaustion all over her. "Oi, I'm over here, Freddy. If you wanna hit someone, you better aim at them."

Too tired to make a verbal response, Gengetsu focussed on the human as she unleashed her omnidirectional attack. Marisa quickly looked down at Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee focussing her holy power into the ofuda, the paper flaking away quickly.

Marisa looed back at Gengetsu, seeing danmaku that was coming towards her at point-blank range. She was unable to dodge, the human getting hit by the danmaku.

Marisa became completely numb, the only exception being the faint sting in the side of her face, even the burn of that pain cooled away. She was falling, unable to control her body. She saw Reimu look at her with shocked eyes, the trainee's purple eyes becoming filled with anger before she threw the charged ofuda at the unsuspecting demon.

The holy charms hit Gengetsu in the face without flaw; the demon neither flying or teleporting out of the way, nor surrounding herself with her shield.

There was a large explosion of holy light and energy that completely engulfed Gengetsu as Marisa's vision blurred into darkness.

* * *

Marisa found herself sleeping on a flat, comfortable area of ground, the magician opening her eyes as she felt a pair of other people's ocular organs on her. Marisa saw a worried-looking Reimu in front of her, the shrine maiden trainee on her knees with her hands close to her mouth. Standing next to the maiden was Mugetsu, the maid-cosplaying demon looking far less concerned as she watched with bored eyes.

A grin rose on Marisa's face. "So, did we kick her ass?" The magician asked, still laying on the ground.

Reimu's face immediately brightened as she saw that her friend was well and conscious, the now happy shrine maiden trainee standing up. "Yes, we won~!" Reimu responded in a cheerful tone, jumping up and down. Marisa just let out a chuckle at her friend's change in demeanour, the girl sitting up; it was honestly a wonder how long she was unconscious, even though this is just meant to be her dream self in the Dream World. "Your plan worked. We managed to defeat Gengetsu, we're officially the champions of the Dream World~!"

"Not really..." A familiar voice murmured rather nervously and embarrassedly. Marisa looked to the source of the familiar voice, the spellcaster unsurprised to see that it was Gengetsu, the demon still healing as there were mild bruises on her skin, though they were slowly and noticeably healing. She had a large bead of sweat of embarrassment falling down from her temple. "There is a certain someone that is stronger than us... Unless if you defeat The Ruler of Dreams herself, you will never be considered the champions of the Dream World..."

Marisa was silent for a few seconds. "Oh right, I almost forgot that this was like a game..." Marisa said, mild sweat of embarrassment falling down her head. The sweat vanished in an incident as she had a more serious look on her face. "So, since this is a dream, aren't Eggplant and I meant to be wakin' up now?"

"We could wake you both up right now, but it would only result in you two waking up in the early morning. I'd say it is a few minutes before half four in the morning in your world, so..." Mugetsu trailed, the demon and her sister standing next to each other, giving both humans a kind smile that was different from the more intimidating (?) appearance they put on when they first introduced themselves to the maidens.

"Let's have a tea party~!" The demon sisters said in unison, a playful tone in their voices.

Gengetsu snapped her fingers, a pink cloud puffing into existence in an open area on the grass, far from any trees. Bathed in the moonlight, a round table with many chairs appeared, pink and decorated with a large, white cloth that covered most of it, many teacups on coasters, silver trays with biscuits, cookies and small cakes and a porcelain teapot with pink hearts on it. There were also many small plates with napkins next to them.

"What is that?" Reimu asked in confusion, pointing at the thing that the elder demon sister made.

"Oh, sorry, did we forget to mention that we are huge fans of things from the western side of the Outside World." Mugetsu responded, giving an embarrassed rub of the back of her head. "These are what tea parties are like in the western Outside World. Try it, you might enjoy it."

"L _aaaaaaaaaaaaaa_ me!" Marisa said, unamused by the two demons. "Why don't you take away these limits you put on us and let us lucid dream like people should?"

"Sorry, but if we do that then The Ruler of Dreams herself is going to be pissed." Gengetsu responded, looking fearful of the thought of having to suffer the wrath of this unnamed, unseen entity. "She's usually very lax about everything, but any disturbances in the Dream World will make her mad. And if we accidently cause such a disturbance by allowing you two to do that... Sorry, not risking it...!"

"Well damn it all with a side of 'Fuck you' sauce." Marisa grumbled, the angry magician crossing her arms and puffing up her cheeks, a grumpy look on her face. "Gettin' to be aware that you're in a dream and not have godlike powers... What a ripoff!"

"Oh it could be worse, Marisa." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden trainee tapping her friend on the head with her gohei. "Let's just enjoy our victory with a celebration. I wonder what these tea parties are like~."

Marisa let out a breath, the spellcaster standing up and walking towards the tea set that the two demon sisters were sitting at, the blonde deciding to sit next to her friend, though they both noticed something about the table, or at least what is around it.

"There seems to be a lot of empty seats here." Reimu commented, looking at the multiple chairs that were just tucked into the table, with no one there at all. "Did there need to be these many chairs?"

"Yeah, are you plannin' on duplicating and sitting on those chairs?" Marisa asked.

"Oh don't worry, we have plenty of tea parties with some of our creations. Next to danmaku battles, tea parties are our favourite pastime." Gengetsu responded casually. Reimu and Marisa suddenly noticed multiple eyes within the darkness between the trees, the owners of the eyes walking out of the woods. There many creatures ranging from large cats, little dolls with button eyes, sheep with oddly-coloured wool and other dream-like creatures, all appearing from the forest and sitting down on the chairs. Gengetsu smiled. "Let's have this tea party, in celebration of our fun battle~!"

The demon sisters began to enjoy the tea and cakes set out on the table, the Dream World creations of theirs joining in. Reimu and Marisa looked at each other in the eyes, the two letting out a simultaneous shrug and deciding to join in on the tea party.

It is a dream, after all. The complete lack of reality and logic can surprise even those of Gensokyo.

* * *

It was morning in Gensokyo, Reimu had woke up relatively early after her dream of fighting those two demon sisters and enjoying a seemingly never-ending tea party with them and her best friend. Despite her reluctance and desire to sleep some more, she simply had too much energy in her, making it basically impossible to sleep as she just laid on top of the blankets.

Feeling like there was no point in just lying down on the blankets and accepting that she just can't fall asleep, Reimu decided to get up and slide open the shrine doors. Reimu had to shield her eyes from the sun's light for a transient moment before the ocular organs adapted to the light, allowing her to see clearly and finely. Reimu walked out of the Hakurei shrine, checking the inside of the donation box to see that it is empty, like usual.

Normally Reimu would be sad or even mad that there were no donations, but she wasn't displeased this time as she still had the money from yesterday stored away, safe and sound, and that was mostly because the incident caused by Yuuka yesterday had stopped her from going to the Human Village and buying basically everything in the candy shop. Reimu put the lid back on the donation box, sitting down on the porch with her legs dangling, swinging them up and down gently as she listened to the chirps of nearby birds.

The faint sounds of footsteps was enough for Reimu to recognise the appearance of Genji, the turtle floating up onto the porch and sitting next to Reimu, the shrine maiden trainee happily giving him a pet on the head.

The two enjoyed the serene silence of the morning...

Until they were both suddenly tapped on the back by extremely cold hands, shocking them both as they were not prepared for it. Reimu fell flat on her face, getting a slight bleed from her nose, though luckily she only bled a few small drops, due to being far stronger than the average human, especially ones of her age.

The cackle of joy that came from behind Reimu was enough of a sign for Reimu to be certain that it was non other than one of Mima's 'pranks'. Reimu got back up and turned around towards the ghost, floating above the air and seemingly sitting down, her hands on her stomach as she laughed without end.

"You never stop being entertaining, Little Girl." Mima said, the ghost slowly stopping her laughter and floating back up. "I may not enjoy this as much as the cold-blooded torture that I've done in the past, but petty pranks are the beginning of enjoyment for a retired villain."

"You sure are a special kind of person..." Genji commented, looking at the green-haired ghost.

"Heyo~!" Marisa said as she appeared in front of the Hakurei shrine on her broomstick, the magician protégé stopping in front of the trio on the porch. "Wasn't that quite the dream, huh, Eggplant Head?"

"Oh yeah. Oh yeah..." Reimu mumbled in response, much to the confusion of Genji and Mima. "Those two demon sisters sure did put up the fight."

"Eh." Marisa responded with a shrug, walking up to her friend. "The first sister was kinda weak. Now the elder sister, she was a real challenge."

Genji and Mima exchanged confused glances before looking at the two maidens. "What are you two talking about?" The ancient turtle-like entity asked.

"I believe that they are talking about us." A smooth voice said from above. Mima and Genji looked up at the air, a very surprised Reimu and Marisa also looking up, seeing two demons floating above them, one dressed like a maid and the other in an appearance akin to that of an angel. Reimu and Marisa were left with their jaws hanging wide open, absolutely nonplussed by the appearance that the two made in the waking world (?) out of the blue. The two demons floated down to the ground, the one looking like an angel giving a curtsy, "Greetings, I am Gengetsu: the most terrible, most fearful demon in the unfathomably large Dream World."

"And I am Mugetsu: the second most terrible, most fearful demon of the Dream World." The other demon, Mugetsu said, giving a slight bow towards the ghost and holy entity, though it was only for the sake of being polite. "How do you do?"

"Dream demons...?" Mima said, still comprehending what was in front of her. She had already known of the existence of dream demons, but all her attempts and rituals to gain contact with one were always fruitless. And even if she did, she has never heard even an utterance of dream demons entering the waking world. She knew that baku are capable of such a feat, but she never thought of other dream creatures possessing those capabilities. "What are you doing here? How did you even come here from the Dream World?"

Mima was up close to the two demons' faces, her eyes filled with a gluttonous hunger for knowledge of the phenomena in front of her.

"Yeah, how'd you get here?" Marisa demanded as she also put her face uncomfortably close to Mugetsu and Gengetsu's faces. "I know ya could take Reimu an' me to your dream world, but I don't remember you sayin' anything 'bout entering our world."

The demon sisters vanished, causing Marisa to fall down as she was leaning on them. The two sisters reappeared behind the ghost and her protégé. "It's a natural feat of some of the strongest of the Dream World." Gengetsu answered. "Since my sister and I are not only some of the strongest in the Dream World, but also high-level dream demons, we can cross over the boundary between dreams and reality. Although, even then, we had some help gaining this ability by a master of boundaries."

"But even then, why are you two here?" Reimu asked as she appeared at the two sisters' sides.

"The Dream World may be an amazing wonderland to those that live in reality, but when you're a native of such a world, the weirdness of it can get rather boring and mundane after a while." Mugetsu responded, letting out a sigh as she remembered the agony that was the boredom before she and her sister became more aware of the waking world. "Especially when you have lived in it for a few thousand years like us."

"YOU'RE BOTH A FEW THOUSAND YEARS OLD?!" Reimu and Marisa shouted in surprise.

"Yes, though in comparison to our lifespans, we're still just about leaving our kid years." Gengetsu responded plainly. The blonde demon then turned towards the humans, a friendly smile on her face. "Anyways, our time with the two of you was so much fun that we wanted continue it, so we left the Dream World."

"Wait, dream demons can leave the Dream World?" Genji asked.

"It's only temporary." Mugetsu answered. "Even though we have no real purpose to the safety of the Dream World, The Ruler of Dreams will want us to return after a few hours pass. And if we don't return willingly, then she'll just hunt us down and beat us up until we go back."

"Ah yes, Doremy sure does care about the balance of the two worlds, if only for the sake of her own..." Genji mumbled. The ancient being then turned his eyes towards the torii gate, feeling a tremendously powerful, yet nonthreatening, aura come gradually closer. Genji wasn't the only one that felt it; Mima too could feel the powerful aura come by, the owner of the aura supressing it to the point that only expert sensors like herself could notice it. This power, of course, was too supressed for Reimu and Marisa to feel it. Genji's eyes met with green as he looked at Mima. "You sense it too, don't you?"

"Yes, I do." Mima responded, looking back at the torii gate. She didn't need the ability to read minds to know that Marisa and Reimu were confused about the two beings' sudden change in behaviour, nor did she need the ability to know what her protégé and the shrine maiden trainee were mentally asking. "An immense power is coming. It's slow, and there seems to be no dangerous intent, but there is still something off about it."

A parasol suddenly appeared at the bottom of the torii gate, the parasol rising higher and higher into the air, showing Yuuka Kazami in the clothes that she was wearing when she fought against Reimu and Marisa the second time, her aforementioned parasol shading her from the head. Behind the youkai were Elly and Kurumi, the two having a respective bag over their backs, the large things almost looking heavy if it weren't for that the shinigami and bat youkai showed no difficulty in carrying them.

"Hello, hello, it's nice to see you two once again, Pansy and Dandelion~!" Yuuka said as she waved towards the two humans, a cheerful smile on her face. "Just as I promised, here are your rewards for the battle from yesterday."

Yuuka pointed towards her two loyal servants, the two swing their bags over their heads, landing them on the shrine ground. Yuuka looked back at Reimu and Marisa, noticing some visible confusion on their faces.

"Who are Pansy and Dandelion?" Reimu asked.

"They're your names, of course~." Yuuka cooed, the green-haired youkai walking towards the two humans and bending her knees (as she is taller than both of them). "I really enjoyed the battle we had yesterday, thus I really like both of you. And thus, since you two are so cute that I could bake you into a cake and eat you for desert, I decided to give you two cute nicknames."

"So... you named them after flowers?" Mima said, looking at Yuuka with half-lidded eyes; it was hard to believe that this is the same person that once terrified Mima when she was in her prime, though she is still easily more preferable than the Ultimate Sadist Creature.

"Of course, flowers are the cutest things imaginable, Mima. And they also have the cutest names, so anyone should feel honoured to be called a nickname after a flower." Yuuka responded to Mima casually, like they were old time friends. The red-eyed entity then noticed the two siblings floating behind the ethereal being. "Oh, hello dears~."

"Yuuka." The two demon sisters responded simultaneously, with Mugetsu even giving off the slight bow of kindness.

Yuuka stood back up straight, a happy smile on her face. "Nevertheless, I have came with the gifts that I promised to the shrine maiden and her friend." The youkai said, gesturing her arms towards the bags. "I hope you enjoy them, and that we can be friends throughout the rest of your mortal lives."

"I don't know, you really cause such a big incident just to keep yourself entertained." Reimu said. "I don't know if I..."

Elly then opened the large bag she was carrying, one that had Reimu's name on it. The top of the bag opened wide, revealing Reimu's prize to be sweets; sweets of many shapes and colours, all looking mouth-wateringly tasty.

"Here are all the sweets from the Human Village." Elly said kindly, like the host of a game show towards the winner, as she gestured her arms towards the now open bag. "Lady Yuuka was quick to understand that you are a fond lover of sweets, especially sweets that are for humans. Thus, with her own money, Lady Yuuka has left the sweet shop within the village without a single sweet left for the day. all for you."

"Oh thank you old friend~!" Reimu said as she was suddenly at Yuuka's side, the trainee hugging the youkai. "It's as clear as the daylight itself that you are merely a misunderstood soul. Don't worry, you are always welcomed and accepted here, and you will always be a good friend of mine~!"

"Well she sure did turn quick." Marisa commented, the spellcaster proceeding to look at Kurumi as the bat youkai as she stood in front of the other bag with the magician's name on it. "Okay, Vam-Mmph!"

Marisa's mouth was suddenly covered by a large leaf as a sunflower grew behind her in an instant. Marisa looked at Yuuka, the youkai being the only one around that she's certain has to power to control flowers, at least on such a level. Yuuka wasn't glaring, or even the slightest bit angry, but her expression was a bit more serious, turning head from side to side. Elly was standing next to the former Ultimate Sadist Creature, doing the same head movement as her.

Marisa continued looking at them, easily connecting the dots that she shouldn't call Kurumi by that name. It seemed that Yuuka understood Marisa's little epiphany, the youkai willing the flower to uncover the human's mouth.

"Okay, Fangs, what do you got for me?" Marisa asked, her hands akimbo as she looked at the youkai. Kurumi had a faint look of anger in her eyes, whenever it was because of how Marisa asked her, or the events of yesterday, Marisa didn't really know or care.

Nevertheless, Kurumi complied, opening the bag and revealing a ton of grimoires. "Lady Yuuka is very well aware that you have a penchant for magic and the occult." Kurumi said calmly; her tone wasn't as friendly as Elly's, but she didn't show any malice within it. Marisa and Mima both looked at it, amazed as none of the books were ones that either of them have ever seen before. "Lady Yuuka has had these left in her library for years, doing nothing but collecting dust as she has already learnt and mastered all of the spells and magics in the grimoires. Neither Elly nor I are interested about whatever's in them, so you can take them as much as you want."

"Oh thank you, Ultimate Benevolent Creature~!" Marisa said, appearing on the opposite side of Yuuka as Reimu, the magus also hugging the powerful youkai.

"Oh thank you, Pansy~ Thank you, Dandelion~!" Yuuka cooed, hugging the two back. Yuuka had made sure to hold back as she hugged them, as she could easily crush the two without even trying, due to her immense strength that could make even an oni blush. However, because that strength is so immense, even when holding back it was still crushing for them. Even though it wasn't enough to break or even crack either of Reimu or Marisa's bones, it was still enough to squeeze the air out of them. Yuuka widened her eyes as she heard the strained groans coming from the two, letting go of them. "Oh, sorry. So, so sorry. Sometimes not I know my own strength."

"It's okay." Reimu groaned, lying on the ground.

"Yeah, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger..." Marisa agreed, lying next to Reimu.

"Wah-ah-ah-ah~!" Elly screamed all of a sudden behind Yuuka. The youkai turned around, seeing Elly and Kurumi in the air, floating up and down. The flower-manipulating entity would have shrugged this off as the two flying and having fun in a weird way, but she noticed that they looked visibly confused and even a little surprised, their arms and legs limp as they kept on flying up and down in the air, screaming.

"What is...?" Yuuka questioned, the youkai's hands suddenly feeling empty. Yuuka looked at her hands, where her parasol should be. Her parasol was definitely not there. "My parasol! Where'd it go?!"

Yuuka heard snickering up in the air, looking up at the dream demon sisters. It would be easy to assume that they were the ones behind it, but Yuuka had a feeling that they were only having fun watching the sight, especially as they didn't have her parasol.

"It is here~." A voice said playfully. Yuuka looked where the voice came from, seeing a blonde little girl in a maid outfit, holding out the parasol.

"Oh my, I think I recognise you." Yuuka said as she pointed at the poltergeist, the youkai still remaining on the ground as she willed the sunflower that she summoned earlier to extend itself further upwards and take the possession out of the ghost's hand. "You were the one that threw that alarm clock at the Bewitching Lotus Flower."

"Yep, that's me~." Kana giggled in response, not doing a single effort to stop the sunflower as it took Yuuka's parasol back; the youkai was being polite, after all.

Mugetsu floated upwards a little, towards the shrine roof, her eyes widening as she saw someone else on the roof of the shrine. "How and why is she up here?" The maid-cosplaying demon asked, causing everyone to look at her with a raised eyebrow (with the exception of Elly and Kurumi, who were on the verge on unconsciousness from sickness as Kana stopped using them like toys).

"Who?" Reimu asked as she got back on her feet. The shrine maiden trainee decided that she didn't want to wait for a response, the little girl getting on Genji's shell and tapping it with her gohei; a silent message for him ti float up there. Genji had complied, mostly because he also wanted to see what was up there. Reimu widened her eyes in surprise at who she saw on her roof. "Ellen? Again?"

The aforementioned forgetful witch was sleeping calmly on top of the roof of the Hakurei shrine, her cat, Sokrates, sitting next to her with a bored expression. Ellen let out a yawn as she woke up, the witch standing up and walking off the roof, falling down as she didn't activate her flying abilities.

"What an idiot..." Marisa commented as she remained on the ground, looking at the ignorant girl as she layed face-first against the ground.

"I concur. If she wasn't immortal, she would have died from her own idiocy a long, long time ago." Mima agreed with her student.

Ellen got back up, the witch clapping towards the sky. "Sokrates~! Come here~, boy~." Ellen called up to her cat, the same feline jumping down from the roof and landing on her head, the cat climbing down and resting on the witch's shoulder. Ellen happily scratched Sokrates in the side of the neck, causing the cat to purr happily. "Let's go back to the shop, we got goodies to sell~."

Ellen and Sokrates walked off, leaving everyone in confused state.

"Well... that was... weird." Yuuka said, trying to comprehend what just happened.

"Eh, that's normal 'round here at the shrine." Marisa said, taking Reimu's sweets out of her bag and eating them. "If you wanna hang out with Rei, you're gonna have to get used to the weirdest people around visiting."

"Don't eat my sweets, thief!" Reimu yelled as she jumped kicked Marisa in the face.

"Wow, didn't know she'd take a violent approach." Gengetsu said as Reimu grabbed the bag of sweets and took it away from Marisa, the aforementioned protégé quickly recovering from the kick that Reimu sent towards her. "I better remember to not get her mad."

"So you two are from the Dream World, huh?" Kurumi said as she floated in front of Mugetsu and Gengetsu.

"Yes." The younger sister responded calmly. "Is there anything that you would like to ask?"

"How powerful are you two if you can appear here?" The bat youkai asked.

"It's kind of complicated, really." Gengetsu answered, looking a little embarrassed as a blush appeared on her face. "When we leave the Dream World, we can barely even use half of our true power, and even then we are unable to use some of our powers in the waking world completely. Our power is truly some of the most terrifying in the Dream World, though only when in the Dream World."

* * *

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled as she used the powerful holy attack, sending the orbs towards a pile of boulders. Each of the orbs of the Fantasy Seal had hit a boulder, destroying them; all that remained of them was, at most, a pebble the size of the pupil of an eye.

It was later on in the day, after Yuuka and her servants had returned to Mugenkan, and then the two demon sisters returned to the Dream World, and then Mima and Marisa went off to experiment with the new grimoires that they got from Yuuka. Shortly after that, Genji decided to take Reimu somewhere far from the shrine, more in the mountains that layed near the shrine, to train some more. Right now, she was training her Fantasy Seal some more, the aforementioned attack now taking the form of eight yin-yang instead of six, the extra pair taking a pure, white colour of light this time.

"Wow...!" Reimu breathed after seeing the result of her latest Fantasy Seal, looking down at her hands, opening and closing them. "I've gotten so much stronger than when I first started training."

"Indeed you have, Lady Reimu." Genji said, the turtle walking towards the latest member of the Hakurei bloodline. "You're on multiple different levels than you were when you started. Words cannot describe how happy I am that you've gone so far."

"Thank you, Gramps~." Reimu responded happily. "Now I just need to learn how to fly, and then I'll become a full shrine maiden in no time."

"Speaking of..." Genji trailed. There was an air of silence as Reimu looked at the ancient being, the sun setting in the distance. Genji looked up at Reimu, faint tears of happiness in his dark eyes. "Lady Reimu, you have became an outstanding Hakurei shrine maiden trainee - even an outstanding Hakurei shrine maiden in general. You have, as a trainee, defeated opponents and achieved feats that even full-fledged Hakurei shrine maidens have failed. Even defeating Mima alone, many complete shrine maidens have failed and lost their lives when fighting against her. Your training isn't complete just yet, but..."

"But...?" Reimu asked, leaning her head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

Genji smiled, the tears of joy leaking from his eyes even more. "Lady Reimu, you may have not yet completed your training, but I think you're too strong to just be a trainee from now on." The turtle said. Reimu's eyes widened as she did a sharp, somewhat raspy, intake of breath as her heart pounded in excitement. "Reimu Hakurei, as the main guardian spirit of the Hakurei clan, I decree you as an unofficial Hakurei shrine maiden. Not a trainee, a full shrine maiden."

Reimu was silent, almost unable to move her body; it was almost entirely unbelievable what was happening right now.

"I'm... I'm now a shrine maiden...?!" Reimu asked, tears of joy appearing in her eyes. It was almost like a dream, but it felt so real.

"Unofficially." Genji responded, a smile appearing on his face. "But yes, you are now a shrine maiden. All we need is to unlock your innate ability to fly, and then it will be no doubt that you are a Hakurei shrine maiden."

"Oh thank you, Genji~! Thank you~!" Reimu cried happily as she hugged Genji around the neck, unable to stop the tears of pure, uncontainable glee coming from her eyes.

* * *

"...and The Really Nice Demons, after seeing how horribly Little Susy was being treated by her evil parents, gobbled up the mean humans, leaving nothing left of them. Little Susy and The Really Nice Demons then went to the forest and lived together in The Really Nice Demons' cottage. And they all lived happily ever after. The end." Shinki read as she sat on the edge of Alice's bed, the demon goddess reading her daughter a bedtime story (for demons at least) called Little Susy and The Really Nice Demons. The demon closed the book, the only source of light in Alice's room being that light coming from the open door. It didn't matter though, Shinki could see and read in the dark with ease. The demon goddess looked at the blonde human-demon hybrid, giving her a soft smile as the child was sleeping, planting a soft kiss on her temple. "I love you, my child."

Shinki got off the bed and put the book on a bookshelf, the goddess walking towards the door and closing it gently, careful to not wake her daughter up.

Shinki walked down the hallways of Pandemonium, the demon reaching her throne room, sitting down on the aforementioned throne. Not even a few seconds later, Yumeko appeared in front of the goddess in the blink of an eye, the space-manipulating maid bowing down towards her creator/ruler.

"Lady Shinki, the preparations are almost complete." Yumeko said solemnly, the blonde looking up at the god. "Your plan to begin tourism in Gensokyo will happen soon, soon we'll know what life is like in that dimension."

"Yay, good, good, good~!" Shinki replied, clapping her hands ecstatically. "Oh I have been planning this for so long~ Finally, no more holding back, time to enjoy Gensokyo life~!"

Shinki got off her throne, too excited to stay sitting down, bursting with nigh-uncontrollable energy. The demon goddess and her strongest creation began walking down the halls of Pandemonium, unaware of what the goddess' plans - only to benefit her kingdom and ease the boredom of her creations - would bring upon her dimension.

It was never once thought that a small faction of Gensokyo could bring ruin upon the powerful and ancient civilization of Makai.

* * *

 **And now marks the end of the Lotus Land Story arc, and the beginning of the Mystic Square arc, otherwise known as the last arc of the PC-98 era.**

 **Okay, so there's a lot of stuff I need to talk about. First off all, I hope the battle against Gengetsu was enough to suffice, even if it was only about half of this fic's length or so. I originally thought of this including both the battle against Gengetsu in this and the build up to the next arc, except this ended up being longer than expected. Instead of doing what I have already done and put these in separate chapters, I ended up having a brain fart and decided to make this chapter so long when I could just separate it into two different chapters.**

 **Oh well *shrugs***

 **A noticeable moment that I included was Gengetsu evaporating the ground of Mugetsu's dimension. The main reason why I thought that up was because, at least at the time that I thought it up, I thought that when you fought Mugetsu the background would remain, and then when you fought Gengetsu there would be an evaporating effect, leaving the background looking like outer space as you fight her in the game.**

 **I was wrong...**

 **But I decided to keep it that way, because I wanted to show that Gengetsu, the older sister, is stronger than Mugetsu. The main reason why I felt like it needed to be shown that the older sibling is stronger is because this is Touhou, where the younger sibling is usually portrayed as the stronger one. Literally the only sister characters that in Touhou that I think are the exception are Watatsuki no Toyohime and possibly Shion.**

 **But now, with that out of the way, Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream has officially ended. It was a great read, if you haven't read it yet then what are you doing reading this crap? (Go read Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream right now!) And I look forward to the sequel that'll cover the Windows Era.**

 **Although, while Private Winters is going to start up a new story for the Windows Era (or stories, as he's going to retell EoSD to PoFV in the sequel), I'm going to have my entire retelling of Touhou in this one story.**

 **Why? Because different authors mean different stories, and I'm kind of adamant about putting it all in this one story (for some reason), I'm even planning a chapter that is meant to be about the transition from PC-98 to Windows.**

 **And as I'm on the topic for the future of this fanfic, I'm skipping over the manga stories. For one, they're already complete stories in the canon that don't need a retelling. And two, I haven't really read them...**

 **Anyways, the Mystic Square arc might be the longest arc in Maiden's Capriccio, if I follow what I have planned. Basically, this is an idea that I've kinda had for a while, maybe even before I started writing Maiden's Capriccio, just know that I've been brewing this idea for a while.**

 **It is basically about (nearly) everyone who has appeared in the series thus far (with the exception of the Makai characters, of course) helping Reimu and co. fight against Makai and Shinki for the dangers their tourism plan brings to Gensokyo.**

 **Yep, I'm gonna write that. And I'll have to most likely create a lot of OCs...**

 **Yeah, the arc is most likely going to be the longest in this story.**

 **As for everyone else joining in on the fight against Makai... There is a reason why I decided for Genji to make Reimu an unofficial shrine maiden of Hakurei, as well as have Reimu have an absurdly high amount of money in donations and lot lose them.**

 **Until then...**

 **All reviews, even one of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	36. Proposal of War

It was another bright and sunny day in Gensokyo, a cool breeze flowing throughout the country; a faint moment of serenity and peace in a land of endless magical battles and other anomalies.

And Reimu Hakurei, now unofficially the shrine maiden of the Hakurei clan, no longer just another trainee, was sitting down near the pond behind the shrine; a grass-covered area with a little grove of trees surrounding its boundaries.

And the shrine maiden wasn't on her own as she celebrated this new leap in her life.

"Lady Hakurei, I understand that you wished to celebrate your new status," Gyoku said as he and his sister sat outside of the Yin-Yang Orb, the red-haired priestess of the two twins was next to the pond, even letting her spectral feet soak in the water, casually eating some rice and yams without a care in the world. Gyoku, of course, was sitting next to Reimu, though he was also technically near the pond, as that was where Reimu sat. Reimu looked at Gyoku, the human-turned-guardian spirit having a somewhat nervous look on his face, "But did you really have to invite so many people that attacked you in the past?"

Yes, that is right! Reimu is holding a celebration for now becoming a shrine maiden, even though it is unofficial until she learns to fly. And, with all the saved donations that she got during the morning of the Lotus Land Story incident, she decided to get as much food as possible to celebrate with all her friends.

But, as she didn't really have that many friends, she decided to instead invite most of the people that she had met throughout her training. Thus multiple opponents from the past were there, seemingly celebrating Reimu's triumph.

Mima and Marisa were sitting next to Reimu, the former reading one of the new grimoires that Yuuka brought to the Hakurei shrine a few days ago while the later was eating some beans with rice. Konngara wasn't far from the shrine where she sat, the oni once again in a reduced size more akin to that of a human adult, proudly talking about something to Ellen, Sokrates, Noroiko, Kurumi, Kotohime and even Mugetsu as they all listened with interest, the oni occasionally stopping to drink from her sake dish, the aforementioned dish was constantly being refilled by Kikuri, the bronze disk entity having a calm and happy expression on her face.

Kana had a large smirk on her face as she used her telekinesis to make Rikako's glasses fly around, the scientist chasing after them in vain.

Chiyuri and Yumemi were sitting next to the poltergeist, not minding or caring for her pranking antics, as they weren't against them or on them, or anything of the sort. The blonde of the Outsider duo was eating watermelon slices while the older Outsider was eating an Outside World food. Apparently they are something known as strawberry-flavoured sweets that were wrapped in... something. Of course, since they were sweets, Reimu was naturally interested, and had thus 'persuaded' Yumemi to give her some, the aforementioned some being eaten by Reimu right now.

Elly was sitting next to Yuuka on a plaid blanket, the shinigami pouring her master some tea as the youkai was using her parasol to shade herself from the sun. Gengetsu was sitting next to them on the blanket, eating a slice of cake from the Dream World.

"It is a little unnerving that Lady Reimu invited them all over, especially as a good amount of them had any qualms with hurting her, even though she is a child." Genji commented as he floated in the lake, the turtle looking rather relaxed. "But it seems as though they are all on friendly terms with her now, so I guess I can ease up on it."

A purple-haired figure appeared from the side of the shrine, looking at the little party from behind; the party that she was invited to.

"So this is the celebration that I was invited to." Meira said calmly as she walked into the back of the shrine, passing by the youkai and few humans that were enjoying it with Reimu. "This is not what I expected, especially as I'm still trying to revive my clan... But, I guess I can enjoy this moment."

"Oh Meira~, you're finally here~!" Reimu said excitedly as she suddenly ran up to the samurai, grabbing her by the arm and pulling the surprised, older woman to where she was sitting. Pure confusion was written on Meira's face as she was pushed onto her butt, the confused not being redacted as Reimu was instantly by her side, hugging the samurai's arm whilst giggling happily.

"Aww, young love~." Yuuka commented teasingly.

"We're not in love, dammit!" Meira yelled at the powerful youkai, the aforementioned non-human chuckling as she annoyed the samurai as planned. "I barely even like her as a friend, nevertheless love her. Hell, I'd get arrested if I was in a romantic relationship with someone as young as her!"

"You're not as old as you think you are, Meira." Mima commented, the ghost eating some yakitori as she continued to read the book in her hand. "Give a few short years, and it's perfectly legal."

"Aww, poor Rei is so ill that she's lovesick." Marisa joked as she also had some yakitori, the magician munching the chicken rather loudly. Marisa looked at Meira, the samurai blushing a deep shade of pink, especially as Reimu didn't cease her hugging of her arm. "You better treat her right, 'cause she has no dad. And as her best friend, I'll break anyone who breaks her heart."

Meira proceeded to become so mad that she was spouting incomprehensible gibberish.

"Oh just eat some tempura and calm down, Samurai." Kana said, the poltergeist having ceased toying with Rikako, the same spectral entity sliding the dish of fish and vegetables towards her with some dipping sauce. Meira's gibberish died in an instant, her dark eyes completely focussed on the meal.

"Tempura...!" Meira said hungrily, the girl wasting no time in dipping the seafood into the sauce and eating it. It was a secret that tempura is her favourite food, her love for the dish almost being a weakness. Putting some of it in front of her, or just letting her take in the scent, was enough to block her mind from the rest of the world as she ate it. "The texture, the fish, the salt, everything of tempura! This ambrosia; food invented and created by that god of wisdom that the Greeks worship! I love tempura~!"

Reimu decided to separate herself from Meira, the shrine maiden walking towards Yumemi and Chiyuri as the two were now enjoying some sukiyaki, the older of the two Outsiders having some sake with hers.

"Hey, do either of you two know where Rika is?" Reimu asked the two Outsiders, causing them to look at her with their full attention. "I remember inviting all of you four here, that is you two, Rikako and Rika. I know you two are here, and so is Rikako, but I don't see Rika anywhere."

"Oh, she's still back at our new base in the Kappa Village... which is still the Probability Space Hypervessel." Yumemi answered, the Outside World scientist putting some more beef from her sukiyaki in her mouth, eating and swallowing it before continuing. At least she was finally eating something other than strawberries. "She's working on improving her Evil Eye Sigma; she promised that she'll come over sometime later in the afternoon, she is just so busy on improving her greatest achievement."

"What a hard-working girl." Chiyuri commented of the brown-haired engineer, proud tears in her eyes. "She just always works so hard to prove herself, especially in a world like Gensokyo. I knew it was a good idea to work with her once again."

Rikako huffed through her nose. "She's just an antisocial slacker that wants to make it look like she works hard to create those pathetic creations of hers." Rikako said bitterly about her rival, the aforementioned rivalry between the two similarly named girls haven gotten a bit worse as Rika was proving herself to be more favoured by their mentors (Yumemi and Chiyuri). "If you ask me, I'm sure she is just lazing around, happy that she has no one to bother her."

"That's quite hypocritical, y'know." Chiyuri said, giving Rikako a large grin, the smile growing as she saw the blood drain from the self-proclaimed scientist's face. "You prefer to stay away from overs, and how many achievements in Gensokian science have you achieved since we took you under our wing?"

Rikako began to make indecipherable sounds, the scientist just silently moving towards Kotohime, the princess enjoying some tofu and rice. Chiyuri just let out a chuckle, the assistant continuing to enjoy her dish of beef, vegetables and tofu.

Reimu decided to walk back towards the spot where she was earlier, the shrine maiden a little glum that Meira had walked off and was now chatting with Mugetsu about something, but she simply shrugged it off as she sat down next to Marisa.

"Damn, it feels like only yesterday I was fightin' you so Mima could destroy humanity and enslave the humans that survived." Marisa said in a cheerful sort of way, causing Reimu to look at her with a large droplet of sweat falling down from her temple. "I never thought I'd see you become a full shrine maiden, at least so soon. Congratulations."

"Yeah, I really didn't expect it." Reimu said, a large smile on her face. "I thought I would have a few more years before I stopped being a trainee, not that I'm complaining. It's nice being a Hakurei shrine maiden, especially as I'm the last one left."

Reimu looked at the rest, seeing Yuuka make multiple small, beautiful flowers grow out of the ground, Gengetsu and Mugetsu were speaking with Kana, Kotohime and Rikako were sitting next to each other, chatting about who knows what, Konngara drinking sake with Kikuri by her side, Noroiko eating radishes as she next to Meira, the beautiful samurai eating even more tempura, Ellen had Sokrates sleeping on top of her head as she was speaking nonsense towards a very confused Elly and Kurumi, Yumemi and Chiyuri were still eating their meal.

And a girl with green hair, curved, red horns, a light-blue dress and large, bat-like wings floated over the shrine, with golden, slit eyes and an abnormally long mouth with sharp teeth in the shape of a mischievous smile, her forked tongue doing a hissing motion like a snake.

…Wait, what?

Everyone (with the exception of an oblivious Ellen and Meira, who was still busy eating her tempura) looked up at the odd girl, especially as she had an aura that felt really weird, of a completely different and alien nature. Reimu, Genji and Konngara recognised that kind of power, and Mima and Yuuka had a suspicion of what kind of power that was.

"Ooooooh~, what's this~?" The demon girl said. Multiple other demon girls appeared beside her, some looking like fairies with bodies that were slightly older in form than that of a real fairy, some looking like her with their slit eyes and sharp teeth and snake tongues. "Looks like these Gensokians are havin' a party~!"

"Oooooh, I love a party~."

"This looks kinda lame, we should show 'em how we do it in Makai."

"You gonna eat that?"

"Meat! Meat! Meat~!"

"Yay, party!"

"It's a bunch of demons from Makai..." Mima commented, the spectral being gaining everyone's attention (with the exception of the speaking demons and the still oblivious Ellen and Meira), her fingers pressing against her chin, her spectral lips turning colourless as she pressed them against each other. "That is... very odd. I thought that Yukari and Shinki made an agreement that residents of each other's domain never enter the other, or something like that... I'm so old that I keep on forgetting things, especially when there is so much knowledge that I can keep in my head, especially as I mostly remember magic and spells."

"Makai...?" Kurumi said.

"I think I remember hearing about it once in a storybook that Mother told me." Kotohime said, the princess deep in thought. "I remember that a long time ago a god... or a demon that is like a god... had created an entire dimension for herself, and then created a bunch of demons to keep her company."

"It is a lot like that." Genji responded, the turtle looking up at the Makai demons, obviously being lower-levelled with how low their magic levels were. They were talking with each other, seemingly having forgotten about the others. "Hey! What are you doing here?! I thought that Makai demons didn't enter Gensokyo."

One of the lower-levelled demons blinked and looked at the old turtle-like entity. "Huh? Oh yeah..." She said, flippant about the situation. "Lady Shinki has let us visit Gensokyo freely, and now we can do whatever we want in here. So, how's about we show some Makai fun~?"

The leader demon, who was the one that spoke, pointed her index finger out in front of her, a dark purple sphere of light appearing in front of the finger, firing a laser towards the group of Gensokians and other people at the party...

And the single beam hit Meira's tempura and the plate that held it, shattering the item and making the fish and vegetable meal make contact with the ground. Meira looked at the ground with wide eyes, disbelief and surprise in the wide orbs.

Her tempura... It was now on the dirty ground, on the dirty mud; utterly ruined. Those demons... they ruined her perfect meal!

"How dare you! You malevolent bitches!" Meira yelled, standing up and glaring at the demons flying in the air, not the slightest emotion of regret on their faces. Everyone took a step back from the samurai, even Ellen had taken notice of what was happening and stepped back, now becoming aware of everything that was happening. "You ruined my tempura! Do you understand what you did? You just ruined a perfect meal; an amalgamation of the amazing taste of fish and the healthiness of vegetables. Can you comprehend what sin you just committed?!"

"Fish and vegetables? Yucky!" The head demon said, sticking out her tongue in disgust. "Fish and vegetables taste like crap! That dirt has probably made it taste even better, it's not hard to make something that tastes better than yucky fish and yuckier vegetables."

"Yeah, yeah, fish are crap!"

"Crap food! Crap food!"

"Yucky! Yucky! Yucky~!"

"It doesn't even have any meat in it."

Meira was silent, looking at them with blank eyes, unable to believe their words. Not only do they feel absolutely no guilt for their heinous action, but they even go as far as to say such slander?!

"You demonic, diabolical monsters! It is clear as daylight now that you are beyond redemption, that there is a certain event horizon that you must have never crossed, but you clearly have crossed it with glee of evil on your faces...!" Meira said, drawing her katana. The purple-haired samurai raised her head up towards the group of demons, her dark glare showing nothing more than a desire to end their immortal lives. "There is no retribution for you, nothing that you do will allow you to be forgiven for your sins! I will kill all of you, and the weight of your actions will finally shine to light...!"

Meira suddenly vanished in the blink of an eye, seemingly turning invisible. Before any of the Makai demons could react to what happened to her, the leader of the group was suddenly cut in half vertically, right in the middle. The other demons looked horrified at their friend, a blur suddenly moving around the demon, the same demon being cut by the neck, her wrists, her elbows, and the joints of her shoulders, even her knees and ankles were completely cut, allowing purple blood to flow out of the demon, though every part of her corpse, even her blood, evaporated into a white mist.

The same blur moved around the other demon girls, causing the Makai citizens to be in pieces before they too had turned into mist.

"Well... this just got dark." Gengetsu commented.

Meira landed on the ground, sheathing her sword once again. "Your sins may never be repented, but you can still suffer from them." The samurai said, standing back up.

"That won't end them for long." Konngara said, the oni looking at the mist as it began to repair back into the Makai demons. "Makai demons are a lot like regular demons and youkai; you can cut them pieces and 'kill' them as many times as you want, they will still regenerate perfectly as long as something like their mind remains."

As the Astral Knight said that, the Makai demons were completely healed.

"Aww man, are you serious?" Chiyuri whined. "How do you even defeat those? Wait, do we have to defeat them?"

"That third question is dependant on whenever or not you want to fight them." Konngara responded, the ruler of Jigoku holding out her sword, lightning sparking around the blade. "As for defeating them, it is actually a lot easier than defeating a youkai. You see, Makai demons have a limited supply of energy, energy which gets used up whenever they regenerate."

"Horrible, old bitch!" The leader of the Makai demons yelled at Meira, even though she is far older than the human will ever live to be. The fellow demons yelled in agreement, all them charging up magical attacks that they sent towards Meira. Before the human could dodge the demons' attacks (something that she can easily do), Konngara went in front of her, the powerful oni quickly pointing her sword towards the demons and their attacks, sending out a powerful bolt of lightning that not only destroyed the spheres and lasers, but even the Makai demons themselves, even if for a transient moment.

"Thus, if you hurt them enough, whenever it is destroying them completely or simply hurting them, you can cause them to become too exhausted to fight anymore, especially if they use up their energy fighting against you." Konngara said, the Makai demons reforming back into their bodies from the mist they were turned into from Konngara's lightning bolt. "The more you damage them, the more energy they use to heal."

"You're all so awful~!" The head Makai demon yelled. "What kind of vacation is this?"

"You're right, Iyo." Said another Makai demon, being one that looked like a fairy, having short, brown hair, pastel pink eyes, and wearing pink dress with a pink ribbon tied in her hair. "Lady Shinki promised us that we could do what we want in here, and as our benevolent goddess, she would never lie. Clearly we need to teach these humans and youkai who is superior."

"You're so right, Sayo." Iyo agreed with the fairy-like demon. The green-haired demon then looked at a demon that was to her side, her blue hair tied up in a ponytail, wearing a white dress with purple flower patterns, her eyes normal and yellow-coloured. She was also wearing a small sunhat. "Haru, what do you think we should do~?"

"I think we should be them senseless." Haru responded, her (clearly fake) posh accent not fitting her tone of voice. The demon then raised a palm up to the sky, a blue sphere appearing above the palm. "Let's make them go boom~! We'll teach 'em a lesson for trying to ruin our vacation."

"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah~!" The other Makai demons agreed uproariously. Everyone who was at the party behind the Hakurei shrine was fully focussed on them, ready to fight. Reimu had her gohei out with a few ofuda in her other hand, Sin and Gyoku had merged back together in their yin-yang form, Marisa was floating on her broomstick with her magic wand out, Mima had her crescent sceptre in her hands and pointed towards the group of demons, Konngara kept out her katana with the blade sparking with lightning, Kikuri kept her happy expression on her face as her orb glowed bright.

Meira still glared hatefully at the demons with her sword tight in her hand, Noroiko was surrounded by black orbs of pure curse energy, Yumemi had an infinity symbol floating above her palm, Chiyuri looked like she was ready to teleport around and pierce the demons with lasers, Kana had made a stop sign materialise in her hands while fake phantoms floated around her, Kotohime was now in her officer uniform with her own katana unsheathed (a lot of characters with katanas, huh), Rikako was some spiked balls while flying around on her jetpack, and even Ellen was surrounded by her golden tornado (though she was still on the ground) with a glitter-like substance sparkling around her fingers.

Elly kept her curved scythe out, Kurumi was baring her fangs, Yuuka was pointing her parasol at them, Mugetsu had a magical sphere above her respective hands, and Gengetsu looked like she was preparing a Nightmare Spark.

"Well, well, well, looks like these Gensokians wanna fight back." Iyo said, a smug smirk on her face with her hands akimbo. Iyo and the other Makai demons let out a loud laugh. "This ought to be a joke, everyone knows that Gensokians and everyone else that hangs out at the land are complete weaklings, do you seriously-?"

Iyo and her comrades were then utterly obliterated from a Master Spark shot out of Yuuka's parasol, the green-haired youkai opening up the parasol and resting it on her shoulder once again. "You shouldn't brag about a specific kind of people being weak, especially if you have already been defeated by them." Yuuka said with mild disdain in her otherwise calm voice. Her red eyes were glaring at the mist that was slowly reforming back into the Iyo and her gang, the old lady letting out an angry sigh. "How rude of all of you. I will give you all one last chance, fly away and stop such rudeness, or you will know how powerful Gensokyo is."

Iyo, Sayo and Haru turned back into their demon bodies, the girls growling angrily. "Okay, that's it! The gloves are off and thrown in the trash!" Iyo yelled, looking back at the other demons. "Let's show them how strong we truly are!"

The demon then began to fire at the Gensokians and dream demon sisters, with varying results. Reimu ran out of the way of the danmaku, the shrine maiden jumping onto Genji, the turtle-like entity flying out of the pond. Marisa and Mima evaded with ease, the two shooting a massively dense barrage of star-shaped danmaku at the Makai demons. Unlike the last time, the demons had actually decided to dodge and split up, still firing their own danmaku of varying shapes, sizes and colours at them. Some of the Makai demons were hit, but few of them were defeated by the star-shaped danmaku fired by the protégé and master.

It didn't help that more Makai demons were appearing from nowhere and deciding to join in on the fun.

Kana was of course careful to not get hit by the danmaku, the poltergeist knowing well enough that the magical bullets would cause her to feel pain, something that is most unwelcomed. The blonde girl was able to use her stop sign to whack their danmaku out of the way and even back at them. Kana was also using her telekinesis to force the demons to slam against the ground, causing a few snapping sounds to break through the air, including the snaps of neck bones for a temporary death.

Kotohime had used her unique slash attack, the purple line cutting through the demons' danmaku and even cutting some of them in half, the princess even throwing some of her bombs at them, causing giant explosions that destroyed the Makai demons, at least for a while. Why did she bring the suit and bombs to a party?

Yumemi was teleporting around in the air, the Outsider creating Infinity Bombs that she threw at the demons, making it harder for them to fly around and dodge the constant barrage of danmaku aimed at them from the Gensokians as the aforementioned artificial magic bombs were exploding indefinitely.

Chiyuri was not far from her superior, the blonde also teleporting around in the air, though she was more focussed on using lasers and danmaku, not that she really has access to any of the Infinity Bombs in the first place.

Mugetsu and Gengetsu were somewhere around the borders of the Hakurei shrine, the two demons of the Dream World making sure that none of the Makaians would escape; they were, after all, the ones that started this battle; they can't raise the white flag or abscond because they don't like the way things are going. Nevertheless, any Makai demon that tried to escape were pelted with an impossibly dense amount of danmaku; the same treatment was also brought to the demons that dared to fire at the two most terrible, most fearful demons of the Dream World.

Everyone else was doing their part too. Ellen was casting multiple spells (mostly fire and freezing spells) and summoning her metal orbs, Rikako was flying around on her backpack and throwing the spiked balls at the Makai demons (mostly because they were the easiest things for her to do), Elly was throwing her scythe around like a boomerang, causing multiple Makaians to be cut in half and turned into mist, and Kurumi was firing danmaku at the demons and even using her fangs to suck out their blood (and spitting it out afterwards because their demon blood tasted awful). Meira was vanishing in an instant and dicing up the endlessly regenerating demons, Noroiko was simply using regular danmaku and hand-to-hand combat to defeat the demons, and Konngara was using the lightning that was being generated from her sword to annihilate the demons whilst Kikuri was using her laser eyes to blast the Makai tourists into vapour.

Yuuka, on the other hand, just sat down and continued to drink her tea, using her open parasol to block all danmaku that was shot towards her, the youkai also using her magic powers to send out golden-coloured, jagged danmaku that would home in on the closest Makaian demons.

It was soon that the Makai demons were defeated, even after regenerating to their full forms, even after constantly being destroyed to the point where they had to turn into mist to return to their full forms, they were defeated. In fact, it was the regenerating thing that caused them to be defeated, as too much energy was being used up to return them back to those forms.

"No... fair...!" Iyo groaned, the horned demon trying to push herself off the ground, only to fall under her own weight, her muscles burning as she lacked the energy and strength to really do anything more than talk. And even then, the demon could barely do that simple action. "There were so many of you... We were so out numbered...!"

"That is a lie." Rikako said, the magician-turned-scientist lowering herself to the ground, giving the demons an emotionless and disdainful. "You all outnumbered us by the multiple of six, at the least. You have no right to complain, especially as you started all of this."

"It's strange." Genji said, the turtle lowering to the ground, the ancient spirit having flown Reimu around as she shot danmaku and threw ofuda at the demons, the aforementioned shrine maiden hopping off him. "Makai demons rarely appear in Gensokyo, mostly because they have no interest in it. I know a Makai demon appeared a few months ago, at the least, but that was sort of a special occasion..."

"What special occasion?" Kotohime asked.

"One was sent to take me to Makai to fight someone..." Reimu answered, having a serious expression on her face, if only because of the moment at hand and not because of the incident itself.

"Sariel...!" Konngara said, the oni's face wrinkling into a grimace.

"If that is so..." Yumemi said, the Outsider approaching the demons, looking at them intently. "Why are you all here?"

"L... Lady Shinki said that we... could come here..." Sayo responded, the fairy-like demon lying flat against the ground, conscious but unable to move. "She said... that Gensokyo was somewhere... that we can go to... and do as we please...!"

Sayo then rested her head against the ground, the demon unconscious.

"Shinki sent them?" Genji said, the ancient being confused by the information. It was beyond odd, as Shinki has rarely ever in the past shown any interest in bringing any of her creations into Gensokyo. If she really did send the demons to Gensokyo, what is her motive? Did she...? Genji's eyes widened, that couldn't be the case! "Is Shinki really planning to invade Gensokyo?!"

"Shinki?" Marisa asked, the blonde's eyes widening as she realised something. "Hey, she's the demon that created Makai, like in the story that Koto-koto described, right?"

"Yeah, that's her." Genji responded, looking at the group of defeated Makai demons; demons that looked like they were already starting to recover. "I don't know why she would send her creations to Gensokyo, unless she wants to take over the land."

"What?!" Ellen and Kana shrieked.

"A take over of Gensokyo? I thought only Mima was capable of such an act." Noroiko said, the curse youkai looking at the demons as they slowly rose up, preparing to lay a horrible curse on them, mostly for her entertainment.

"My, and on such a lovely day." Yuuka complained nonchalantly, taking the situation with little to no seriousness.

"But that doesn't really make sense, Shinki obviously has never had the slightest interest in ruling over anything except for her own domain, and even then she is more of a benevolent ruler among her creations than a dictator." Konngara argued, the oni looking at the ground for a few seconds of silence before continuing. "But... nevertheless what her goals and intentions are, if she is really letting Makai demons enter Gensokyo - or even making them enter Gensokyo - then she needs to be stopped as soon as possible."

"And why would she need to be stopped?" Chiyuri asked.

"Because, as you have just seen, Makai demons won't hold back in fighting others. In fact, Makai demons are rather fond of causing as much destruction and chaos as they want. They even make their own towns outside the capital back at Makai so they can destroy them for entertainment." Konngara answered. Reimu briefly had a flashback of when she was in the Ruins of Vina, when Elis explained that she and a couple other demons worked hard to make Vina just to blow it up for fun. Konngara then looked up at the air, letting out an audible gulp as she saw multiple demons fly up in the sky; the demons obviously being ones from Makai. "And there is another reason: Makai's air is toxic, and the demons that inhabit it can bring around that toxin."

"What?!" Reimu screamed, the blood draining from her face, primarily because of the fact that she went into Makai in the past, and was in there for who knows when.

"Makai's air is completely poisonous to humans and animals, even plants wither away and die when exposed to enough of the poison." Konngara explained simply. "They are made by a demon, after all. Even if Shinki is a master of the Ultimate Magic, she still thinks like a demon; a dimension with air that is completely poisonous to humans and the like is definitely something a demon would make."

"SinGyoku..." Reimu said impassively, her eyes shaded by her hair.

"Yes, Lady Reimu?" The Hakurei twin guardians asked, appearing at her side.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THIS WHEN I WENT TO MAKAI TO FIGHT ELIS?!" Reimu yelled angrily, whacking the twins as hard as she possibly could with her gohei.

"You were protected by the holy power you are born with..." The twins struggled, unable to protect themselves as they didn't have any hands in their yin-yang form. It truly showed how much stronger that Reimu has gotten, now that they are actually being hurt by the shrine maiden's gohei. "Even if you were too weak for your ofuda to purify the Makai demons like you can against youkai, it was still enough to protect you against the poison in Makai's air."

"Wait, did Gorilla just say that those demons are poisonous?" Marisa questioned, the magician protégé not looking too afraid of the fact.

"Only slightly." Konngara responded in a matter-of-fact voice, the Astral Knight shooting lightning out of the blade of her katana, the lightning bolt turning into an explosion of the element, destroying all the demons that were currently floating in the sky, at least for a little while. "You may be human, and unprotected by holy power, but the magic that you have is enough for you to have a stronger resistance than a magicless human."

"Umm... I'm a magicless human." Yumemi said worriedly.

"Me too." Chiyuri continued, sweating buckets at the thought that she could die at any moment because of some poisonous demons. "We only use artificial magic; we have no real magic, not a single drop."

"Just consider yourselves lucky that you kept your distances, and that you are more resistant than grass." Konngara responded calmly, pointing at the Makai demons. They were still unconscious, but the grass beneath them was black and dead, a sign that the poison of Makai's air had clung to them and was already killing parts of Gensokyo, at least if they were there for long enough of a time.

"Yeesh, they sure don't look good for this world." Elly said, the shinigami keeping close to Yuuka, as her loyalty was towards the youkai.

"As you can see, it doesn't matter what Shinki's goals are, her demons are nevertheless dangerous to Gensokyo. Even if youkai and other supernatural creatures are immune to the poison, humans and animals still are - particularly the former. Not only will the Makai demons cause mass destruction without a second thought, but the poison will eventually make Gensokyo impossible for humans to live in, especially as there will be no plant life and or animal life. And, without the belief of humans, the youkai and gods will die out. Of all the incidents to have ever plagued Gensokyo throughout the years, this is one of the worst." Konngara said, the oni turning towards Reimu and Genji. "Reimu, Genji, you must go to Makai and stop Shinki, whatever she is doing this for."

"Okay..." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden getting back on top with Genji. "If my holy power really does protect me from the poison in Makai's air, then I guess I have nothing to worry about. Come on, Genji, let's go and fight this Shinki."

Genji flew forward, the turtle silently agreeing with the shrine maiden. There was a deep feeling of fear in his heart, that Lady Reimu may end up losing her life in this battle against Shinki, if she even will be able to fight the creator and ruler of Makai.

But it isn't his choice. As much as he cares for Reimu, he can't just not let her go to Makai when the biggest threat that Gensokyo has face in a long time - maybe even its biggest threat period - unless if the Gap Youkai herself decides to appear and tell them that she will handle the problem herself.

"Wait," Konngara said from behind the duo. Genji stopped, the ancient entity turning around as both he and Reimu looked at the oni. Konngara had a solemn expression on her mind, the Astral Knight putting her hand on her chest. "I know I no longer live in Gensokyo, but that doesn't mean I don't still care for it. And... you don't stand a chance against Shinki on your own. Even with your potential, you still have yet to completely reach it. Shinki lives in a castle that is right in the middle of Makai named Pandemonium, the castle is surrounded by the Makai Capital, where countless Makai demons live; and a lot of them are strong, very strong. Not only that, but Shinki is just as strong, if not stronger, than Sariel."

"What are you saying?" Reimu asked, wondering where the oni was going with her speech.

"I will help you." Konngara said, keeping her solemn expression. "I cannot live with myself if I just let a human - especially one that is still a child - die in Makai when I could have helped. Besides, like I said, this is the biggest threat to Gensokyo, and I still love this country. I will come to Makai with you, I won't let you fight alone. I will fight to save Gensokyo; I will fight to save my former home!"

"Do you really think you will help us?" Genji asked, the holy entity as surprised and amazed as the maiden on his back.

"For the past years, I have been nothing but a weak coward." Konngara said, looking away as her eyes were flooded with shame. "I let that seraphim make me do whatever he wants, and I let myself grow weak. But I have trained to regain my strength, I can now fight against Sariel and the main population of Makai. It's time I've reclaimed my pride as one of the Four Deva of the Mountain, and as an oni in general; that is my redemption for letting myself fall so low."

Reimu couldn't contain the happiness growing her heart, a large smile growing on her face.

"Well... I cannot express my gratitude." Genji said, tears of joy falling down his eyes. "Thank you, Konngara."

"Yay, I'm so happy to have your help~." Reimu said, the purple-haired shrine maiden smiling brightly at the oni woman, whom was still in her regular size form. "We really have became friends ever since when I met you."

Genji, with Reimu on his shell, and Konngara began to float towards the cave where the portal to Makai is located, the two supernatural beings already knowing where it is located, thankfully near the Hakurei shrine.

However, before they could even come near the borders of the Hakurei shrine, an impassable barrier of star-shaped danmaku was suddenly in front of them, blocking their way. Genji and Konngara had obviously stopped, both looking back to see that Marisa was still floating on her broomstick, pointing out her wand towards them with the little star glowing.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" Marisa asked Reimu, the blonde magician floating towards the shrine maiden on top of the turtle-like entity, her hands were akimbo, a grumpy expression on her. "You're literally going into a dimension created by a godlike demon, where you'll fight against hoards of demons, and then the demon god herself, and you thought to _not_ invite me?!"

"...Eh?" Reimu, Genji and Konngara (and even everyone else that was behind Marisa, including even Mima herself) said, confused and surprised.

"I mean seriously, you know that I love a good fight 'n all that, and the demon even has Ultimate Magic, and I'm meant to be your best friend!" Marisa said angrily, the magical maiden floating towards Reimu, grabbing hold of the purple-eyed maiden's hand. "Well, it doesn't matter what you think, I'm comin', and I'm gonna kick that Shinki's ass with ya."

"I'm afraid that won't be so easy." Konngara said, a faint sense of regret in her solemn eyes. "You may be able to resist the faint amount of poisonous toxins that are around the regular Makai demon, but unlike Reimu you don't have any holy or special force protecting you from the tremendous amounts of poison in Makai's air."

"What?! Are you serious?!" Marisa exclaimed indignantly. "Is there, like, anything I can do to become immune to the poisons of Makai."

"I have heard of a few spells that are strong enough to allow even a normal human to shrug off the toxins in Makai..." Konngara mumbled, pondering for a few seconds before continuing. "Sadly though, I don't know any of the spells. And even if I did, I may not be able to cast them; I am powerful, but I have my limits on what magics and spells I can learn and use."

"Well then, it's good for you that I know that spell, and that I'm willing to cast it." Mima said, the green-haired ghost appearing next to the oni, holy entity and two humans. Mima spun around her crescent sceptre above her hand before stopping it, a proud smirk on her face. "I learned the spell a long time ago, when I was still alive and mortal, when I wanted to go to Makai to gain the power I have now. Thankfully, Konngara mentioning the existence of such a spell was enough to make me remember, as I have forgotten it since I have no need for it. I will also help you; I have grown rather attached to this land, a little ironic when you consider that I once saw it as a mere stepping stone in the past. Besides, I cannot let my star pupil go fight Shinki alone, especially when I have some scores to settle with her. And Makai sounds like the perfect place to try out my new spells on. Heeheeheehee~!"

Konngara and Genji exchanged looks; even though she is now 'redeemed' and on okay terms with them, they still weren't sure if they could really trust Mima. But, then again, they know they would need as much help as possible, as this is Shinki that they will most likely be fighting.

Reimu and Marisa didn't care, the two maidens just happy that Mima would be helping them.

"Would anyone else like to join?" Reimu asked as she looked towards the rest of the humans and non-humans that were at her party (before it was interrupted by the Makaians).

Yuuka was the first to step forward, the parasol-wielding youkai looking vastly interested in the incident that was awakening. "I'll be more than happy to join~ Being immortal and get quite boring at times, but fighting against someone as powerful and Shinki and her many creations sounds like a wonderful way to be kept entertained~." The youkai said, letting out an excited, if not slightly evil, giggle. Yuuka then turned around towards Elly and Kurumi, the death god and bat youkai keeping their full attention on her. "Elly, Kurumi, if you wish to join me, then feel free. I will not force you to come along; if you wish to simply return to Mugenkan, then that is okay."

"I've already told a thousand times, I am loyal to you." Elly said, the shorter non-human grabbing her master's hand. "I will gladly come with you to Makai. You won't have to worry about me, even though I'm no longer working for the Ministry of Right and Wrong, I am still a god of death; those Makai demons will be cut clean in half by my blade."

Yuuka was silent, the youkai turning her head towards her other friend. "And you, Kurumi?"

"The only thing in Mugenkan that is worth protecting is you, Lady Yuuka." Kurumi responded, the bat flying over towards her friends and putting her hands over theirs. "Let's have some fun against those Makai demons."

"If Gensokyo gets destroyed because these Makai demons won't leave it alone, then the shrine will abandoned and empty, and I don't want to suffer through the kind of boredom again." Kana said, the poltergeist floating in front of Reimu. "I'll also come, it would be nice to scare a few demons, and show them how dangerous a poltergeist can be."

"Trying to poison and destroy Gensokyo is a serious crime!" Kotohime said, the princess suddenly in her police uniform outfit again, holding out a pair of handcuffs. "As an official police officer of Gensokyo, I'll have to arrest Shinki for her crimes. You can count me in~!"

"What do you think we should do, Sokrates?" Ellen asked as she picked the cat off her shoulder, holding him out in front of her. Sokrates merely blinked at his witch master boredly, the cat letting out a meow. Ellen seemed to have heard something from the simple meow, as her face was unusually serious. "You're right, Sokrates. If Gensokyo is made poisonous by all those demons, then no one will be able to come to Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop, and we'll go out of business!"

Reimu and Marisa sweat-dropped at Ellen's priorities, though they knew what the witch was going to say... hopefully...

"I'm so lucky to have such a smart kitty as a business partner~!" Ellen giggled as she hugged Sokrates, the feline not doing anything to resist her embrace. Ellen balanced Sokrates back on her shoulder, the scatter-brained blonde skipping towards the growing group that was going to fight against Makai. "Fuwafuwa Ellen and Sokrates the Magic Kitty are on your side, fuwa~!"

"If what the oni said about Makai being a dimension created by a godlike demon with Ultimate Magic is true, along with there being a spell that can be used on us to survive in Makai, then I got to see it for myself...!" Yumemi mused, the Outsider turning towards Chiyuri. "Chiyuri, it's an absolute priority that we go to Makai, not only will our knew home be destroyed, but this Shinki can help us improve our artificial magic even further!"

"That _is_ a very good reason." Chiyuri responded, the blonde looking at Reimu. "Okay, The Great Chiyuri and The Great Yumemi will help you out."

"Rikako, as you are already here and are working for us, you will also help~!" Yumemi said to the magician-turned-scientist, the Outsider not caring for the look of surprise on her face. Before Rikako could really protest, Yumemi was in front of her in an instant, the teenager putting a finger over the woman's mouth. "You want to show off how much your technology has improved, don't you?"

Rikako blinked, but ultimately nodded in response.

"Well then, doesn't this sound like an awesome opportunity to show off how far your technology has improved?" Yumemi said, a smile appearing on her face as she knew that she was getting the reaction she wanted.

"I-I guess you're right, Yumemi." Rikako responded, the purple-haired person adjusting her glasses before looking at Reimu. "Okay, I will also help you, but only to show off how much my work in science has improved."

Reimu shrugged, it was at least as good enough of a response, the newly made shrine maiden looking at the two dream demon sisters as they were talking about something.

Mugetsu and Gengetsu quickly noticed Reimu's eyes on them, the two demons looking at her. "We'll have to check with The Ruler of Dreams, to see if she's okay with us doing this." Mugetsu answered, her sister already vanishing back into the dream dimension. "It sounds like a lot of fun to fight against the demons of Makai, and we are fond of the dreams of those in this dimension, but we'll have to see if The Ruler of Dreams is willing to let us do it, especially since we've nearly run out of time that we're allowed outside of the Dream World."

Mugetsu vanished; Reimu only hoped that Mugetsu and Gengetsu would be allowed by this Ruler of Dreams that they keep on talking about.

Reimu saw Yumemi talking into some small black rectangle in her hand, the shrine maiden looking at the last two people of the party that haven't yet decided to join in on the Makai crusade: Meira and Noroiko.

"And you two..?" Reimu asked the human and non-human. Honestly, with all these people saying they would fight with her, after all these incidents and the like of fighting on her own (with the exception of Genji, and later on Marisa), she really hoped that Meira would be willing to fight with her as well.

"My tempura has yet to be properly avenged." Meira said, the samurai looking back at the pile of fish, vegetables and a broken plate on the grass. "I will make sure that Makai itself will pay in its blood."

"Okay..." Reimu responded, the maiden a little sad that Meira's reason for attacking Makai was more about a simple dish than her, but she was still happy to have the samurai help her. Reimu then looked at Noroiko. "And you?"

"Eh, everyone else is doin' it, and it's not like I have anything better to do." Noroiko shrugged. "Besides, these Makai demons will be some good test subjects for some new curses of mine. Heeheehee~!"

Reimu smiled. Gengetsu and Mugetsu reappeared, the dream demon sisters looking happy. "Well you're in luck, we managed to get The Ruler of Dreams to give us and extra hour or so to spend in the waking world, at least as long as we're fighting against Makai." Gengetsu said happily, the angel-like demon floating in the air. "You're in luck now, because the two most terrible, most fearful demons of the Dream World are going to help you stop Makai."

"Though we must warn you, we're quite used to giving people nightmares." Mugetsu warned, the maid-cosplaying demon keeping close to her older sister. "So don't be surprised if we end up traumatising some of those demons."

"Alright then, we're all set~!" Marisa said, the magician protégé undoing the barrier of star-shaped danmaku that she made. "Just make sure that you stay out of the way of Eggplant, Madam Mima or myself, 'cause we can't help that we're much stronger than the rest of you, so we can't stop ourselves if we blast you away for gettin' in the way."

Marisa's last comment was mostly ignored, the humans and non-humans making their way to the cave where the portal between Makai and Gensokyo is located.

"Wait!" Reimu yelled, the shrine maiden jumping off Genji and running to the small warehouse, opening the door and turning on Ruukoto. "Ruukoto, we're going to have to stop some demons and they've left a mess at the shrine, do you think you can clean it up."

"I will do as you wish, Lady Reimu." Ruukoto responded in a monotone voice, the nuclear-powered android maid already beginning work.

Reimu walked back to Genji and climbed bac on top of the turtle-like entity. "Okay, now we can go."

With everyone now certain that they would go to Makai, they went off to where the portal to the aforementioned dimension was located.

...

It was a few minutes after the group that were enjoying the party had left to stop the demons from Makai, the shrine desolate from all life with the exception of the android that was cleaning up the mess there. And a baton-wielding youkai and an angel-like youkai were appearing there.

"Geez, I'm late." Orange complained, the redhead youkai looking back and glaring at Matenshi. "Could you please remind me why you made me wait for so long for you to get ready, or why I even came with you."

"Because being with others is true justice~!" Matenshi responded with bravado, the purple-haired youkai then floated towards the empty shrine, oblivious to the party's abrupt ending. "Fear not, I am certain that there is plenty of food left for us."

Matenshi flew to the back of the shrine with Orange after her, the two youkai widening their eyes as they saw that there was nothing behind the shrine, except for an empty patch of dead grass and a green-haired maid.

"Hey, maid!" Orange yelled, gaining Ruukoto's attention as the android looked at her with emotionless eyes. "I thought there was meant to be a party here!"

"There was." Ruukoto responded impassively as she continued to clean up the mess that was left from the battle against the demons. "But Miss Reimu and co. had to leave as Makai demons attacked the shrine. They are currently heading towards Makai to fight Shinki herself."

Orange and Matenshi were silent - nonplussed - as they processed what the android said, only coming out with one response,

"WHAT?!"

* * *

"Well, we're here." Konngara said as she stopped in front of the cave. "Within there is the gate to Makai. Mima, I think now is as good of a moment as ever to cast that spell."

"I know, I know." Mima responded with slight annoyance.

"So who again is this spells needed for~?" Ellen asked, the witch petting Sokrates as the cat rested on her shoulder.

"Let's see here, Reimu is guarded by holy power, Genji and SinGyoku are practically made of and guarded by holy power, Kana and I are already dead so we don't need to worry for the cursed air of Makai, Konngara, Noroiko, Yuuka, Elly, Kurumi, Kikuri, Mugetsu and Gengetsu are already supernatural creatures, so Makai's poison is like air to them... That just leaves you, your cat, Yumemi, Chiyuri, Marisa, Rikako, Kotohime and Meira to be protected by the spell. Luckily, it only has to be casted once." Mima answered, the ghost waving her crescent sceptre around as she started casting the spell. "Defendant per corpus mortale, custodiet crusta fragili. Sit haec forma humana solennes augurium custodire ab hoc luctuosa dæmoni: venenum!"

Marisa and all the other humans that the enchantment were casted on felt a weird sensation, albeit on that died down quickly.

"What was that?" Yumemi asked.

"The spell." Mima answered simply. "Now you're safe from the poison in Makai's air. Hallelujah and all that other nonsense."

Before anyone could say or do anything else, the cave suddenly floated up out of the ground. Or, that is to say, the top of it did as the ground connected to the stone remained there, alone with the stone that the door to Makai was on. Everyone began to notice that Kana was floating up high; the poltergeist was the one behind the sudden event with the cave, just being a simple matter of telekinesis.

Kana effortlessly used her telekinesis to throw the cave over to the side, looking back at the others like it was natural. "What? I got the cave out of the way, and we can still make it to Makai." The blonde said, pointing towards the open door as more Makai demons flew out of there, ranging from the regular demon that looked like a little girl in a dress to demons that were basically eyes with wings and other such demons. "What are you all waiting for, the dustman? C'mon, lets go."

No one complained or said anything, merely flying towards the slab of stone that stood up in the ground. The was an open gate to Makai where the rock slab was located, a blinding light coming from it. As soon as the humans and non-humans got near it, the doors closed. YuugenMagan flew out of the rock, the fire eyes flying into their usual pattern, connecting each other with chains of lightning.

"Hakurei Maiden, it is you again." YuugenMagan said, the female that he was referring to being unsurprised by the demon's appearance. YuugenMagan's many eyes looked at the group with Reimu, the demon quickly noticing a certain green-haired ghost. The red eyes immediately glared at the magician ghost. "Mima!"

"Yes, that it me." Mima responded unashamedly.

"You know who you are. You know you are not welcome for your sin!" YuugenMagan hissed at Mima with venom, the five eyes looking at Reimu. "Are you working with Mima, Hakurei Maiden?!"

"Yes." Reimu answered. "We're going to Makai to stop Shinki, because she is causing an incident in Gensokyo."

YuugenMagan was silent, the yellow demon looking like it couldn't believe what it was hearing. "YuugenMagan can't believe this. Mima made an unforgivable sin in Makai. To believe you have fallen, Hakurei Maiden and Konngara." The gatekeeper demon said, sparking with electricity. "I am YuugenMagan, gatekeeper of Makai. I won't let any of you enter!"

YuugenMagan began to fire danmaku from its eyes towards the group, all of them dodging with ease. Reimu was the first to attack, shooting a yin-yang of light out of her palm, towards the electric demon.

In just one hit, YuugenMagan was defeated.

"YuugenMagan... cannot believe it...!" The demon groaned as all five of its eyes lied on the ground. "Defeated so easily... when Lady Shinki needs YuugenMagan most... Forgive YuugenMagan... Shinki...!"

The eyes closed, the collective demon was defeated and unconscious, the door to Makai opening again.

"Wow, that was easy~!" Ellen said.

"That was because nothing was done." Rikako said, the self-proclaimed scientist lowering to the ground and turning her jetpack off. "Reimu was the only one that did anything."

"Enough talking, we must enter." Genji said, the turtle still keeping Reimu in the air, floating towards the glowing light that was the portal to Makai. "We must enter Makai and stop Shinki. If she really is planning to take over Gensokyo, then she must be stopped as soon as possible."

Genji flew through the portal with Reimu on top of him, followed by Konngara, then Marisa and Mima, and then the rest.

* * *

Marisa blinked after flying in through the portal, getting rid of spots that were in her eyes, clearing her vision to a vast, purple landscape. There wasn't much that was interesting about this place, which is without a doubt Makai, as it was mostly barren, though she could notice a bunch of buildings somewhere in the distance, most likely the Makai Capital she has heard of.

"Amazing~!" Yumemi said, looking around in awe. Marisa was confused, was the Outsider seeing what she was seeing? "Just look at this place, Chiyuri, it's a real dimension of demons."

"Yeah, and the spell stopped us from being killed by the poison in the air." Chiyuri commented. The blonde teenager looked back, seeing that there was a large door behind them; the way back to Gensokyo.

"Eh, pretty damn unimpressive if you ask me." Marisa said, the magician protégé sitting on her broomstick, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked bored. "Hopefully the Makai Capital over there is more interesting?"

"Hey, Reimu, what is it like in the capital?" Kurumi asked the shrine maiden.

"I don't know, I didn't go there." Reimu responded, blushing in embarrassment. "I only went to some ruins and another dimension from Makai, so I don't know what it's like there."

"It's full of demons." Mima said, the ghost looking towards the Makai Capital with an unusually serious expression. Suddenly, what looked like giant, black tentacles shot out from the capital, though the truth of them was that they were just a bunch of demons, packed so close to each other that from the distance they looked like a black tentacle. "Correction, the demons are leaving."

"Prepare yourselves." Konngara said, the oni growing to her giant size, pulling out her katana and surrounding the blade with lightning. "Makai is already fighting us back, and believe me when I say that they are strong."

Reimu gulped, a quick feeling of trepidation and doubt forming within her, though she swallowed it down and held onto her gohei tight with her ofuda in her hands. This is meant to be one of the most dangerous incidents that Gensokyo has faced, and now as the Hakurei shrine maiden, she must stop all threats that attack Gensokyo, no matter how dangerous they are.

She is ready.

* * *

 **And I'm going to end the chapter here because, like the last chapter, it is a lot longer than I expected.**

 **So yeah, like I said in the Author's Note of the last chapter, nearly all of the characters that Reimu has fought and defeated in the past will be appearing in this chapter, and they'll be helping her. That was the main the reason why I decided to have Reimu become an (unofficial) full shrine maiden, so I could have a reason for all of these characters to be at the shrine; to celebrate Reimu becoming a full shrine maiden. That was also the reason why Reimu had gotten a ton of donations in the beginning of the Lotus Land Story arc, so she could have some food for a real celebration, outside of sweets.**

 **Yeah, I kind of researched some feudal Japanese food, since it just being sweets served at the party... it just felt kind of weird to me.**

 **The idea of Meira having a huge weakness to tempura was just something funny that I thought up, and it was coincidently a good reason that I could come up with for Meira to help Reimu and friends. I guess you could also call it the Hidden Depths trope, but whatever...**

 **Yeah, Matenshi and Orange are kind of like the Butt Monkeys of this story, but who knows, maybe they'll be able to have a Big Damn Heroes moment later, though it may not be in relation to the main quartet (Reimu, Marisa, Mima and Yuuka).**

 **And don't worry, Rika will also appear later and aid on the attack on Makai, it's just that she'll be using the Evil Eye Sigma, so she'll appear later since she's still working on it in the Kappa Village.**

 **Like I said, there's probably going to be a lot of OCs, since just relying on the characters that appear in Mystic Square, with the high number of Gensokyo fighters in this fic (and the sheer level of power that Reimu and Marisa have in this arc), would just make the fights end quickly. They'll still appear and fight, so you can expect Sara and Louise to appear, but they'll fight the other characters, instead of the aforementioned main quartet.**

 **As for Makai having toxic air that can be dangerous to Gensokyo, that was also something that I thought up a long time ago; I felt lime it would make sense as to why everyone would want to stop Shinki. I also already thought up Reimu being immune to the poison in Makai because of her holy power, as well as the supernatural entities being immune (or at least very resistant) to the poison, and Mima using the spell to make them immune so they can enter Makai and fight against the Makaians. As for the spell that Mima used, it is meant to be a rough Latin translation of 'Protect the mortal shell, guard the fragile shell. May this Solemn enchantment protect human form from a demon's poison' (of course it was made using Google Translate, so it could be off). The reason why it is complicated and in spoken form is because it _will_ appear later.**

 **Anyways, long chapter is long, and all reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated, good night!**


	37. Dimension of Reverie

Shinki and Sariel were both sitting at a small, round table, the two godlike entities sitting on their own respective thrones, a simple cup of tea in front of both of them respectively, with even a small plate with a slice of cake in front of their respective cups of tea. Yumeko stood by Shinki's side, despite her respect towards both Lady Shinki and her sibling, and the lack of tension between either of them, she still kept a serious expression; impassiveness was just simply here regular expression.

"So you had plans to start tourism in Gensokyo?" Sariel asked. The seraphim also kept a rather emotionless expression, a contrast to his sister's relaxed smile.

"Well... tourism is the gist of it, really." Shinki replied in embarrassment, a red hue appearing on her cheeks. "I felt like we've been in Makai for a few too many centuries. I know we've been content in here, and I know my many creations have enjoyed staying in nowhere but Makai for those centuries, but I wanted to show them new sights that they have never seen before. And well, you know that Gensokyo is technically right next door to our dimension, so it would be a nice place to start."

"But still, don't you think there could be repercussions?" Sariel asked, the angel using the fork in his hand to take off a piece of the cake slice in front of him, the white-haired man putting it in his mouth. "Your creations are a bit of a rowdy bunch. I know that Gensokyo is more well-known among the other-worlds as being one where the general way of saying hello, goodbye, and generally greeting friends is done in the form of firing countless magical bullets and lasers, but they might not like it when your demons enter and start doing as they please in there, especially as they don't know about the rules that are placed in Gensokyo."

"Oh...?" Shinki said. Sariel raised his teacup to his mouth, drinking the liquid inside. "I didn't know that Gensokyo had rules."

Sariel had promptly spat out his tea, the hot liquid shooting onto Shinki's face. The Demon Goddess didn't care about the tea that was spat on her face, merely wiping it off.

"Didn't the Gap Youkai already explain the rules of Gensokyo to you, Shinki?!" Sariel yelled, the entity losing his usually calm demeanour in the face of his sister's absent-mindedness. Sariel's eyes went wide as he realised his outburst, the angel growing calm and clearing his throat, regaining his face devoid of all emotions. "I thought that you and Yukari had a meeting a long time ago, about a few months ago. Didn't she remind you about the rules, or even tell you about them in a meeting prior? You two have been having them for over a millennium."

"Oh right..." Shinki said in a nervous voice, causing Sariel to narrow his blue eyes at her. "I forgot all about that. Sorry, guess it was just rather boring. I can never remember boring things, so I know nothing about rules in Gensokyo."

Sariel let out a loud sigh of annoyance as he put his hand over his face, incredulous that his sister can be so flippant about such matters. Yumeko herself wasn't quite happy about it either; even though she had indescribable respect towards Shinki, especially as her creator, but sometimes the goddess was just plain, outright embarrassing.

Before the conversation between siblings could continue, the two ancient entities stopped as they felt a tremendous aura of power enter Makai unexpectedly; judging from the magnitude of the power, it was either someone who possess power beyond that of gods, or it is the composite of multiple over entities, specifically of those of tremendous strength. And it was easy to guess who was behind the power, or at least where they came from; there are very few places from where on can enter Makai, and that power was coming from the very area that most of Shinki's demons were heading towards in the first.

"Is that...? Is that power coming from Gensokyo?" Shinki asked.

"Indeed it is, Sister." Sariel responded, the angel and his sister standing up and walking towards the glass door, opening it and standing on the balcony as they looked where the power came from. "It is undeniable that someone from Gensokyo is here, and I don't doubt that it has something to do with your tourism plan."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Shinki mumbled. "But who do you think it could be?"

"If it's one person... It's too weak to be The Dragon's power, so the greatest possibility in that theory is that Yukari is stronger than we thought, and it would make sense for her of all Gensokians to be here, as she works as a protector of Gensokyo. I doubt it would be the Backdoor Goddess, she would only really protect Gensokyo for the sake of gaining worship." Sariel said, the angel watching as a hoard of Makai demons, unaware of the power and most likely flying to where the portal to Gensokyo is located because of Shinki's promise. "It's more likely that it is a bunch of Gensokians that have came here because they don't like the ruckus your creations are making. And if I could guess right, a few powerhouses are among the group; even the trainee."

"You mean that Hakurei shrine maiden trainee you fought a few months ago." Shinki asked, looking at her brother. The man merely nodded silently as he continued to look at the hoard, looking like black tendrils as they flew further into the distance. Stars shined in Shinki's eyes as she looked back at the distance. "Oh wow, I can't wait to meet her~."

Shinki heard a painful sound to her side, the demon looking to her side to see her brother's forehead slammed against the railing, a dent in the steel bars.

Sariel moved his head back up, a red mark on his forehead where it slammed against the steel. The angel of death didn't bother to rub the area as the redness already began to vanish, his naturally healing abilities coming into play.

"Do you wish for me to clean up the mess, Lady Shinki?" Yumeko asked from behind the demon, the blonde maid holding two large swords in her hands. "As both your strongest creation, and your head maid, it won't be too much of an effort for me to get rid of the Gensokians."

"No need, Yumeko." Shinki responded, waving her hand casually at the maid. "I'm sure this can end peace..."

Shinki suddenly went silent, the calm expression turning into a frown as she sensed a specific power among the many different powers, one from a long time ago; the power of someone from the outside that committed an unforgivable sin; an action that Shinki will never forgive _her_ for.

"Sariel...!" Shinki said, her body shaking as she was trying to contain the pure fury that was burning like lava in her blood.

"I know." The man responded, putting his hand on her shoulder, hoping the action would calm her. "I know."

"What is...?" Yumeko asked, the demon not needing a verbal answer as she saw it in her creator's eyes. Yumeko's face turned into a hatred-filled expression; the memories of what the eidolon did were still pristine in her memory. "Mima...!"

"If _she_ is here... then it definitely wouldn't be a peaceful confrontation!" Shinki said, her voice filled with venom upon even the slightest words associated with that green-haired monster. A thought occurred to Shinki, the demon turning back towards her brother. "Sariel, didn't you say that you felt the Hakurei shrine maiden's power among the group?"

"Indeed I did, Sister." Sariel responded, keeping his eyes on where the power is located, even if it's far away. "Either Mima has managed to get the shrine maiden trainee to work for her, through one way or another, or she has killed her and gained the powers of Hakurei."

Shinki furrowed her brows, all of the possibilities that her brother opened killing the hope that lit up in her. "Yumeko," Shinki said, not looking at the demon as she kept her eyes on the place in the distance. "Clean up the-"

"Wo-o-o-oaaaah~!" A maid demon said as she slipped and fell onto the ground, killing the tense for at least a second. The three beings that were in the room earlier looked at the maid, watching her clumsily get off the ground with the help of her sister.

The two demons were quite alike in appearance, wearing a red maid dress like Yumeko, having medium-length hair with small, purple horns sticking out, having the exact same face, height, weight and green eyes. The only real difference between them were that one had red hair while the other had blue hair.

"W-we're sorry, L-Lady Shinki, Lord Sariel, Miss Y-Yumeko." The two demons stuttered nervously, giving a bow to the superior beings. "W-we know this isn't a g-good time, but something dire h-has happened."

"We know, Mima has came back, even after we let her leave with a warning." Yumeko responded in her usual impassive nature, keeping the swords in her hands. "You can return to your duties, she'll be handled soon."

"M-Mima is back?!" The red-haired demon sister shrieked, the same maid being the one that tripped.

"I-it's not that, Miss Yumeko." The other sister stuttered. "L-Lady Alice has disappeared."

It was with those single words that a feeling of terror shot through the three's hearts like a sharp arrow. "Yumeko, you can handle Mima later, you can even just leave it to me." Shinki said quickly to her strongest creation, her blue eyes blank with fear. "Just find my daughter and bring her to safety."

"Understood, My Lady." Yumeko responded, the blonde giving her master a quick bow before vanishing in an instant, Shinki looked back to where Sariel was, only to not find him there; merely seeing nothing more than a sphere of light that was floating away, towards where the power was coming from.

* * *

Reimu watched as the dark tendrils coming from the Makai Capital began to break apart into tiny spheres, the spheres changing shape and colour as the Makai demons came closer. They varied greatly in appearances, some looking like the demons that were fought at the Hakurei shrine, some looking like eyeballs with wings, some looking vaguely human with abnormal features, such as large wings in place of their arms, or sharp teeth, or simply just horns on their head.

Nevertheless, there was a constant between all of them, and it was that they had that aura that could be understood as that of someone from Makai.

The manifold demons looked excited as they flew forward, however they stopped with confused and surprised looks on their faces upon seeing the giant oni wielding a sword with lightning around the blade, and the many other females that were surrounding her.

" _Huh? Who are they?_ " One of the eyeball demons said telepathically as it stopped in front of Reimu and co. with the rest of its demon kin, flapping its tiny wings like an insect.

"It's a giant woman and some humans." A fairy-like demon said as she flew towards the intruders slightly. She continued to look with her pink eyes before she noticed someone, a terrified gasp escaping from her lips before she shrieked, "IT'S MIMA!"

" **Oh Great Shinki, she's back!** " An ink-black spherical creature with arms and legs said in an unnatural voice, its red eyes widened in terror. " **And she's brought an army!** "

"Just what exactly did you do?" Kotohime asked, the red-haired princess raising an eyebrow towards the ghost. "Do you need to be arrested for some crime you caused here?"

"You can't really keep in me in a prison in Gensokyo, I'm a ghost and I know far too many spells for any cell to hold me." Mima responded, the joking tone in her voice contradicting the serious look on her face as almost every Makai demon was paralysed by fear, looking directly at her. "And you would rather not listen to what I did, I can say without hesitation that it was done in my absolute prime of evil, because what I did is on par with what Yuuka did in her Ultimate Sadist Creature days."

"Wait, what?!" Chiyuri asked, the blonde Outsider giving Yuuka a nervous glance.

A red blur suddenly passed out of the frozen group of terrified Makai demons, an image of a purple-eyed and purple-haired woman appearing in front of Mima; translucent and fading from existence. The same demon appeared above and behind Mima, her foot raised high in the air as she was ready to kick the spectre back in the head. Mima just let out a sigh, the ghost using the crescent of her wand block the demon's kick. A blue laser suddenly shot out of group of demons, however the magician's ghost used telekinesis to throw the other demon in front of her, the purple-haired demon taking the brunt of the force in the back.

Mima shot a large and power green star out of her hand, shooting the Makai demon back. "Well it's good to know that these two weaklings still think they can defeat me." Mima said as the demon that tried to attack her landed in front of the crowd of other Makai demons. Another demon flew out of the pile, a humanoid that looked greatly regretful about something.

"Oh Sara, I'm so sorry about the laser!" She cried as she lowered to the ground towards her friend, the aforementioned friend regenerating in the back and front where she was hit, right down to the clothes. "It was meant for The Monster, but she put you in its way."

"It's okay, Louise." The first demon, Sara, responded as she got off the ground, her voice sounding deep and gruff, though still feminine enough to be recognised as a female's voice. "I was sure that I would have hit The Monster in the back of the head, I didn't predict the telekinesis attack either."

Sara turned around and faced towards the heroes. She had eyes and low-cut hair that were a light shade of purple, almost looking pink with how lightly they were coloured. She was also wearing a simple red dress with a white scarf and white sleeves. Next to her was the other demon, Louise, had yellow eyes with yellow hair, wearing a white hat with a purple bow and a white dress with purple collar.

 **Melee Demon in Vermillion**

 **Sara**

 **An Eternal Spiritual Heaven**

 **Louise**

"Hey, Mima, do you know who these two are?" Marisa asked, not caring about what her mentor did to be called 'The Monster' by these demons, are why Sara was glaring at her while Louise looked terrified.

"Sadly I do, though just barely." Mima responded, looking uncomfortable as she scratched her head. "These two are 'Higher-levelled' Makai demons, which is just made up stuff for Makai residents that are stronger than the regular ones. You know that the one in the red dress is called Sara, she's a Makai demon that is more focussed on her physical prowess than her magical one. In fact, despite being stronger than the average Makai demon, she possesses terrible power and skill in magic. As for the other one named Louise? She's just stronger than a regular Makai demon. I think she has a gloomy twin named Luana - which is very ironic if you ask me - but that's about it."

"Thank you Mima, for your useful exposition on these demons in front of us. However, I'm afraid to admit that this information is useless." Yuuka said as she passed by the ghost, the youkai standing in front of the rest of the humans and non-humans that are stopping the invasion from Makai. Yuuka gave all of the scared demons a polite smile. "Hello, it is nice to meet you. I am Yuuka Kazami, and I request that you bring us to Shinki. If you cooperate with us, we can resolve this peacefully."

"Are you serious?" Sara asked, the purple-haired demon glaring at Yuuka, even as she was still giving a kind smile without the slightest sense of condescendence. "Do you expect me to believe such bullcrap?!"

"Well honestly I don't mind if this ends peacefully or in battle." Yuuka admitted, "I would like for things to end without us needlessly going to war, but the prospect does make me so excited... So it's your choice."

"We... we won't listen to anyone who sides with Mima!" Louise stuttered angrily, a glare forming on her face as pure hatred joined her fear. "We already trusted Mima... we just thought she was a regular sorceress who was powerless and lost. But she... She did the unspeakable! She's the absolute worst; The Monster! That is the only name that can properly define Mima."

"Seriously, what did you do?!" Kotohime yelled at Mima.

Mima turned her head back towards the princess pretending to be a cop. "Trust me, you will be having nightmares for years if I told you." The ghost said.

"If you think we're going to just let you pass, you got another thing comin'!" Sara said, raising a fist towards Mima and the rest of the group. "I'll keep fightin' until I can regenerate no more, until my body dies of exhaustion, I won't let you set another single foot in the Capital."

"Well then, it's a lucky thing that I don't have any feet~." Mima responded in her usual joking tone, wiggling her ghost tail. "Oh yeah, a few things happened to me since I last came here... Like dying."

"Geez, all this talking is so boring that I swear I'm going to fall asleep, and as an entity of the Dream World, I don't sleep." Gengetsu said, pointing a hand towards the group as a blue sphere glowed into existence in front of her palm. "I'll take on these small fires, it should be a good warm up."

"Now, now. Buttercup." Yuuka said in a soft tone towards Gengetsu, the youkai having already decided a nickname for the blonde demon. "We must let these residents of Makai decide if they want war or peace."

"I'll blast you to bits for what you did!" A demon yelled, obviously towards Mima.

"I won't let you, or your evil army, exist further!" Another yelled.

"I'm all for war if it means you're no longer in the way!"

"I never thought that The Monster would return. This is the end."

"What a tragedy we are living in."

"This is the end of Makai!"

"I'm going to rip the humans and youkai to shreds, and then I'm going to seal you forever in a jar and throw you into the deepest pit in existence!" Sara yelled angrily at Mima, the Makai demon clenching her fists shut tightly, surrounding them with a glow of magic that was the exact same light purple as her hair and eyes. "Don't you dare get in my way, Moss Head!"

"I may be afraid, but I won't let The Day of The Monster happen again, ever!" Louise said, all the fear in her eyes vanishing; all that was left was determination. "We won't let you hurt Makai again!"

"Oh, so they wish for war. Well then, might as well end this." Yuuka said casually with a shrug.

Sara dashed forward, the Makai demon aiming a fist towards Yuuka's face. The fist made contact, but if anything was hurt, it was Sara as it felt like her knuckles had broken upon contact with the youkai's cheek. Louise aimed multiple blue-coloured danmaku at Yuuka, shaped like diamonds and blessed with the sharpness to cut steel. Yuuka, however, endured the danmaku without so much as a scratch.

"Well, that's depressing." Yuuka said, looking truly displeased, not even taking real notice of the red dress-wearing demon in front of her. Sara looked at her mangled hand as the bones within repaired. She looked back up to see red eyes looking back at her, the demon leaping over a mile back with a single stride, landing next to Louise. "I let the both of you land the first attack and I barely felt a thing. I'm sorry for how unfair this battle is, I'll make it quick and painless for you."

Sara growled angrily and dashed towards Yuuka once again, appearing in front of the youkai within a second. This time, the superhuman demon tried to kick Yuuka in the stomach, however unlike last time, Yuuka caught the foot easily with her hand, effortlessly tossing the purple-haired demon back to her previous location. Louise made multiple diamond-shaped bullets appear above Yuuka, the danmaku shooting down towards Yuuka. The youkai didn't even smirk as she pointed the open parasol in her hand upwards, blocking the danmaku flawlessly.

"What?" Sara said incredulously, cold sweat falling down from her temple. "How did she...?"

"She really did let us land the first attack...!" Louise breathed, the blonde demon frozen in fear.

Yuuka folded her parasol, the youkai pointing it towards Sara, Louise and the group of Makai demons behind them. "I take no real pleasure in trampling someone so much weaker than me." Yuuka said, a blue sphere appearing at the tip of her parasol. A smile appeared on Yuuka's face, a glimmer of some sort of emotion in her scarlet-red eyes. "But that doesn't mean I feel guilty about it."

Before any of the demons could fly or run away, or cast a shield to protect themselves, or even teleport to a safe area, Yuuka unleashed her Master Spark on the Makai entities, completely vaporizing them and even some of the ground beneath them, the laser beam continuing to shot through the air, even after destroying the demons, the Master Spark only stopping and dying out as they grazed the gates of the Makai Capital.

"HOLY SHIT BALLS ON A PILE OF HOLLIER SHIT!" Chiyuri yelled out, receiving a large whack on the head from Yumemi.

"I'm as amazed and terrified as you, but that doesn't mean we have to swear about it." The older woman scolded, letting Chiyuri rub the throbbing lump on her head from the hit.

"Oh my, looks like I put in a little too much power into that Master Spark. Oh well." Yuuka said simply with a shrug, the ancient and powerful woman opening her parasol and holding it over her head, turning back towards the others with a kind smile. "Shall we continue? I doubt that those still in the Capital haven't noticed us yet."

"Yeah... something like that is hard to miss." Genji mumbled, the turtle-like entity floating off the ground with Reimu still on his shell. "It looks like this isn't going to be easy, we're just going to have to hit Makai with all that we got!"

Everyone flew forward, towards that capital of Makai, preparing to attack what could be thousands of immortal demons.

* * *

"Do you think this is where they went, to this Makai place?" Orange asked Matenshi as the angel-like youkai took the lead, seemingly following after the group that were long gone.

"Of course, I'm certain of it~!" Matenshi responded pridefully, a smug smile appearing of her face as she continued to fly forward. "Luckily for the both of us, I remember Mima's power. And also lucky for us, Mima's immense power still floats in the wind, even if it is starting to fade."

"Huh, that's new." Orange commented, the Taiwanese youkai gaining the attention of ponytailed youkai in front of her. "Things rarely ever go good for me, I'm always seemingly plagued by misfortune. I swear, I think some poverty god might be possessing me or something."

"That is quite odd." Matenshi responded, the youkai turning around completely and stopping, looking at her new cohort. "Quite odd indeed."

"Well one of my old friends came up with the theory, so it's not like-" Orange explained, though she was interrupted.

"No, no, not the situation that you are in, but because I am just like you." The youkai explained. Orange raised a confused eyebrow, the red-haired silently telling the youkai to explain in clearer detail. "I mean that things rarely ever go right for me either; I usually end up with things failing horribly for me as well. What a coincidence."

"Yes, indeed..." Orange commented, her perplexed expression changing to a kind smile as she held out a hand. "Friend?"

"Friend~!" Matenshi responded happily, shaking Orange's hand excitedly. Matenshi suddenly widened her eyes, the youkai turning back to where she was facing before. "Hurry, we must be quick! Mima's energy trail is fading, and if we don't hurry up, we'll lose it."

"R-right." Orange stuttered, a bead of sweat falling down the side of the woman's head. The two youkai sped up their flight, heading towards the cave where the doorway to Makai is located.

Or at least the area that was once a cave,

* * *

"Oh my Shinki, The Monster has returned and she's brought an army!" A fairy-like demon with green hair yelled as she shot a massive array of green danmaku towards Kotohime, the maniacal princess merely using a swipe of her katana to shoot a purple slash that destroyed the danmaku and cut the demon in half.

"They're just as merciless as The Monster herself!" One demon commented as it and a bunch of other demons shot danmaku at Konngara, only for the magical bullets to do little damage to the giantess. The oni didn't say anything, merely swinging at the air with electricity around the blade, releasing a powerful wave of force and electricity, destroying the demons and greatly damaging the buildings nearby.

"Sheesh, these demons just don't end." Yumemi said as she threw Infinity Bombs at the Makai demons, the aforementioned bombs exploding indefinitely helping the Outsider in keeping the demons from fully returning. "Though this sure is a fantastical experience, I must remember to come here some other day and study all that I can about this dimension and its magic. This is just like a daydream."

"Are you going to cause another Phantasmagoria of Dimensional Dream incident, except in here?" Reimu asked as she looked up at Yumemi in annoyance, a large bead of sweat falling down her temple, the shrine maiden shooting holy danmaku at the Makai demons flawlessly as Genji dodged their danmaku.

"I dunno. Maybe this Shinki will be kind and forgiving and let me research this place to my heart's delight." Yumemi responded. "I've met the Aki sisters, and they're pretty friendly to humans."

"I'm not sure how forgiving Shinki can be. We were on okay terms before I very willing did _that_ , so don't ask me how forging she can be." Mima said casually as she pointed her crescent sceptre towards a giant legion of eyeball demons that were firing lasers at her whilst also flying towards her. The ghost let out a sigh as she flew out of the way of the lasers with ease; they may be fast enough to easily defeat your regular weakling, but to a powerful ghost like her they were easy to dodge. She merely fired a Dim Spark at the legion, destroying them, if at least for a few seconds.

"You really did something unforgivable, didn't you?" Rikako asked as she used her rocket tube to fire... well, rockets, at a bunch of demons that were basically like giant, horned lizards with colours that wouldn't be associated with a regular horned lizard.

"I don't regret sacrificing children to a god for power. I don't regret poisoning entire areas of land. I don't regret leaving entire towns in nothing but ash." Mima said simply as she waved her wand around, creating multiple magic circles behind her, the magic circles shooting out giant, star-shaped danmaku at the same legion of eyeball demons as before. "But I can assure you that what I did, the sin that earned me the title as The Monster in a world of demons, is something that I have learned to regret; what caused me to properly understand the concept."

"I see..." Rikako responded, the scientist surrounding herself with multicoloured orbs, the same she used in her battle against Kana.

"Ah, who cares~?" Kana asked in a musical tone, the poltergeist using her telekinesis to throw multiple Makaian demons into other demons of the same kind. The blonde spirit let out an almost crazy laugh as she summoned multiple fake phantoms, ranging from small to large, though all of them were flying towards Makai demons and attacking them.

"Jeez, no matter how many times we kill these demons, they just keeping on coming back." Elly grunted as she threw around her scythe like a boomerang, the shinigami catching it effortlessly each time and throwing it again, firing her danmaku during the periods where she wasn't holding her weapon.

"There are other methods to stop a demon than just simply killing them." Noroiko said casually as she created multiple black orbs of pure curse power, a hint of sadism in her voice. Noroiko mentally commanded the orbs to fly towards the Makai demons around her, making contact with the demons. The Makaians, whenever they may take the usual form of a female humanoid, or if they were one of the eyeball type demons, or another strange creature, immediate fell to the ground in pain, the humanoids curling up in pain as the non-humanoids did a similar action. A smile of glee that was definitely sadistic was on Noroiko's face now. "For instance, you could curse them to feel nothing but crippling pain, leaving them unable to fight you. Heeheehee~!"

"Yeah, well we're not sadists like you." Kurumi said to the curse-wielding youkai, staying close to her death god friend.

"Different strokes for different folks." Noroiko shrugged dismissively, basically confirming her as a sadist.

As the large group continued to fight against the Makai demons, the demons suddenly started to stop attacking and fly away, keeping their space from the Gensokians. Despite all this, they didn't fly away. In fact, they looked like they were waiting for something.

"What's with them?" Ellen asked, the witch keeping Sokrates on her shoulder, the cat keeping its bored expression, despite everything that happened.

"It's really odd." Chiyuri commented. "They're..."

"He's coming." Konngara said, the giant oni glaring towards a distant area in the incredibly large capital, the same area being where the demons were looking at. "He's noticed us. Don't worry, I'll handle him. I can fight on par with him, especially after my training."

"Wait, who is 'he'?" Marisa asked, the magician floating next to Konngara.

"Sariel." Reimu, Genji and Mima responded seriously.

A ball of light entered the area within the capital. The demons kept their stares on the ball intently, some of the Makai natives even stepping back in respect and fear. The ball of light emitted an absurdly powerful level of strength, some of the more weaker youkai - like Noroiko and Kurumi - even felt slightly overwhelmed by the power. A bright glow came from the sphere of light, showing a feminine-looking man, with six large angel wings, possessing blue eyes and white hair, wearing a blue dress and holding a purple magic staff.

"Konngara." Sariel said in a plain, matter-of-fact voice, looking at the giant oni with emotionless eyes. The seraphim then looked towards Mima, his eyes narrowing slightly, though he still kept anger out of his eyes. "Mima."

"Well, it's nice to see that someone is finally calling me by my name, instead of by The Monster, as they always keep calling me." Mima responded happily, the ghost sitting down on her crescent staff as the spectre floated on its horizontal side.

"Trust, I was very tempted." Sariel responded, his voice calm with seething anger. "You only really seem to like the infamous names you are known by as long as they have your name in them."

"Maybe..." Mima shrugged.

"Nevertheless, you all have caused a great amount of damage to Makai." Sariel responded calmly, the angel gazing his eyes around his sister's dimension. He could see that multiple buildings and structures were broken, with there either being holes in them, or they were completely reduced to rubble. Even with the Makai demons, Sariel was certain that they were all killed at least once, only revived by the power of their supernatural regenerative abilities. Sariel turned his emotionless eyes back onto the group of Gensokians, especially Konngara as his former partner was seemingly in charge of the group. "I know many of you are strong, especially you, Hakurei Maiden, but mark my words: you will not survive the wrath of Makai. My sister alone will reduced you all to atoms, even you immortal youkai."

"And I guess I will be no exception." Mima mumbled, the ghost remembering that she never saw someone as angry and hate-filled as Shinki ever since that incident.

"If Sister gets her hands on you, she'll torture you. Trust me, she is capable of not only torturing a ghost, but she can even destroy them." Sariel responded, his voice as calm and impassive as usual. "However, it is not too late. You all can run away, escape the wrath of my sister, myself and the rest of Makai. This is your last chance; I am not generous with letting others leave with their lives; as an angel of death, I usually exist to end life."

Reimu didn't even think to come to her conclusion, she already knew her answer. "No!" Reimu responded, the short purple-haired shrine maiden pointing her gohei towards the angel of death. "I won't let you hurt Gensokyo any further. I've already defeated you in the past, I can defeat you again, especially as I'm stronger than before!"

"Your victory was merely a fluke." Sariel said calmly, the seraphim raising his sceptre high in the air, tremendous power charging within the gem at the end of the wand. "I will show you the touch of death. You will gain no mercy from me."

Reimu was ready to fight Sariel, especially as she doubted that she wouldn't do it alone, seeing that in her peripherals she could see Mima, Yuuka and Marisa preparing to fire their own magic attacks at the man. Before any attack could be made, Konngara put her giant arm between Reimu and Sariel.

"Your fight is not with Reimu, Sariel. It is with me." The giant oni said, the lightning sparking around the blade of her katana crackling loudly. "I have ruined my pride as an oni letting myself become your puppet. I will show you my true strength, and I will defeat you."

"Oh really then?" Sariel responded boredly with, his dull eyes once again showing very little emotion, though this was mostly a result of keeping them all under control. The seraphim kept his sceptre raised, using its magical power to grow larger, growing and growing and growing until he was the size of Konngara. "I will end you first, and then the others will join you in the afterlife shortly thereafter."

"But Konngara, I can handle him. In fact, all of us can handle him." Reimu protested, pointing back at the rest of the Gensokians.

"I know, but time is of the essence." Konngara responded, the giant oni and the equally giant angel flying up into the air. The black-haired woman was looking back at the others, luckily Sariel wasn't taking the chance to perform a sneak attack on her. "The longer we just stand here and talk, the more danger that Gensokyo will be put in. I'll handle Sariel, you and the others can handle the rest of the Makai demons. But be careful against Yumeko and Shinki herself, if you end up getting cocky or hold back in the slightest, they _will_ defeat you."

Konngara and Sariel then flew up high into the air. The oni was the first to attack, managing to still move in unimaginable speeds, despite her immense increase in size, swinging her lightning-covered sword at Sariel. The seraphim blocked the attack with his wand, electricity shooting out in every which way, some of the bolts even managing to hit a few buildings and Makai demons, despite how high in the air they were.

Sariel kneed Konngara in the stomach, the unexpected attack causing her to stagger. Sariel then whacked Konngara across the face with his sceptre, causing the flying oni to shoot back, though she kept her clutch on the handle of her katana tight.

Sariel made purple magic circles appear around him, the circles shooting purple lasers and danmaku. Konngara dodged and reflected the danmaku with her sword, the reflected projectiles and lasers being dodged by their original caster. Sariel pointed his sceptre at Konngara again, a bright dark purple glow coming from the tip of the wand as wind seemed to swirl right into it.

"May you meet absolution after death." Sariel said calmly, not a hint of pleasure, happiness or anger in his voice. The seraphim fired the beam at Konngara, the former Deva of the Mountain cutting it in half with a swift swing of her katana.

"Sorry, but I'm not dying now," Konngara responded as she glared at Sariel, her sword's blade becoming surrounded by lightning again. "And I'll meet absolution with your defeat."

Meanwhile, as the two giants were fighting high in the air, the Gensokians were still fighting again the seemingly never-ending swarm of immortal demons. Chiyuri flew towards Yumemi as the older human kept on firing Infinity Bombs and crosses towards the demons, the blonde haired Outsider charging up an attack of artificial magic, releasing powerful, fast-moving bullets that destroyed all the Makai demons that were trying to hit Yumemi from her behind.

"Hey, Yumemi, do you think we should call our ace in the hole?" The younger teenager asked, releasing a huge and dense onslaught of blue danmaku, the projectiles ranging from small to large.

"No, this doesn't look like a good time for it." Yumemi responded as she simply fired her regular white pellet danmaku and more crosses, the fortress of Infinity Bombs in front of her being nearly impossible for any demon to move through, though many kept on firing danmaku and lasers from the over side of Yumemi's wall of endless explosions. "Besides, I talked with her earlier, she still needs a few more minutes for the final preparations."

As the two Outsiders were talking whilst fending of the Makai demons, Reimu was throwing ofuda and shooting holy danmaku at the Makaians, the paper charms and special danmaku obviously having a stronger effect on them, due to them being demons. "Hey, Gramps," Reimu said, the shrine maiden hitting some Makai demons with her gohei as they came close to her, the demons basically being burned by the poisonous (to them at least) element. The holy entity, too focussed on dodging the demons' danmaku for him and his shrine maiden, didn't make a verbal response, merely nodding up at her. "I kinda know who this Shinki is, but who's Yumeko?"

Genji stopped upon hearing the question, making him and Reimu sitting ducks for a bunch of lasers shot towards them by a hoard of Makai demons.

Reimu held multiple ofuda tight between her fingers, casting a barrier to protect herself and Genji.

"Gramps, who is Yumeko?!" Reimu demanded, firing more danmaku at the demons, the shrine maiden deciding to cease her ofuda throwing, knowing that she will need to save her finite amount of holy talismans for this mysterious demon.

Genji continued to remain still, the lack of movement from the turtle allowing more and more Makai demons to aim danmaku and lasers at the duo, making it harder for Reimu to fend them off, even with her barrier, specifically because they kept on resurrecting completely whenever they were destroyed.

Star-shaped danmaku then shot from beyond Reimu's peripherals, the sound and closeness of the danmaku being enough of an indicator that they came from right behind her. Reimu turned around to see Mima, the danmaku shot from the ghost seemingly multiplying and continuing from behind Reimu.

"Yumeko is Shinki's stronger creation; a demon that ca manipulate space itself and summon and control swords to do as she pleases." Mima explained, the spectre casually creating multiple giant spheres with a snap of her ethereal fingers, the spheres shooting out every which way and exploding, destroying multiple Makai demons. "Honestly, it is because of her that I barely survived after the incident I caused. Though if I wasn't already weakened, I would have most likely defeated her easily."

"Damn, she's that strong?" Marisa asked, the magical protégé suddenly at Mima and Reimu's sides, the blond snickering at the surprised reaction from the latter before looking back at her mentor. "Well then, it'll just be a lotta catharsis when we inevitably kick her ass."

"Why yes, it will be, Marisa." Mima responded, the ghost smiling at her prized student. "After everything, I don't think she'll ever be a match for me ever again."

"Oh my, what is the topic of the conversation?" Yuuka asked as she poked her head into the discussion (quite literally), the youkai casually firing Master Sparks at the demons surrounding them.

"We're talking about defeating a demon, and then defeating Shinki." Marisa responded with a smirk, the magician holding her wand as she used it to summon magic circles that shot out danmaku and lasers. "You wanna join in? I'm sure there'll be somethin' remaining of them after we blast them into nothing."

"Actually, a thought has occurred to me." Yuuka said, the youkai looking around as more and more Makai demons made their appearance. "If we go with the strategy of defeating all these demons and _then_ fighting against Shinki herself, it would have taken too long, and Gensokyo and all its beautiful flowers will be dead because of the poison in Makai's air making its way to there. So..."

"So...?" Reimu inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"I think we should split up." Yuuka said simply, a calm smile on her face. "Some of us remain here and defeat the demons while the rest move forward and battle Shinki herself. What do you think? Does it sound like a good idea."

"It has its potential." Meira said, the samurai suddenly around the quartet (or quintet, if you count Genji), Kana, Ellen, Gengetsu and Mugetsu, and the two Outsiders beside her. "However, we must be smart on who we pick to go and who we pick to stay."

"It is really more dependant on letting the strongest of us go and fight Shinki." Rikako said, the magician-turned-scientist floating on the other side of the four females. Behind the purple-haired woman were Kurumi, Elly, Noroiko, Kotohime and even Kikuri were behind her. Reimu was somewhat surprised by the bronze disk's appearance, though she guessed that Konngara merely released her before fighting Sariel. Reimu could only guess, she wasn't paying attention to every tiny detail, especially all the demons fighting her. "We're all able to fight against these demons, even though they keep on regenerating. If Shinki is indeed to powerful creator of this dimension, and these Yumeko that you talk of is as powerful as you describe her, then we should send the strongest to fight them."

"That is a good idea- wait, what about the Makai demons around us?" Reimu, realising that everyone that came in form Gensokyo (except for Konngara, of course) was in the little huddle.

"My friends are protecting us~." Yuuka responded. Reimu looked around, realising that there were a bunch of sunflowers and other flowers surrounding the magical females and the holy spirit, firing danmaku and other elements at the Makai demons, though it was clear that they could only hold against the demons for so long. "Don't underestimate the power of flowers. We are soft and gentle naturally, but if we are provoked then you will regret it."

"Ah ha..." Reimu responded.

"I want to avenge my perfect meal for what they did to it, but it's obvious that I'm one of the weaker members of this group, even though I'm stronger than a regular human, so I'll stay here and fend off the demons." Meira said, the samurai pointing the blade of her katana towards the Makai demons from behind the barricade of flowers, knowing that it would barely be more than a minute until the demons destroy the plants and start fighting against them again. "I'll just have my revenge with these demons."

"I'll stay behind as well." Noroiko said, a calm and lazy smile on her face, like she wasn't in the middle of a battlefield with a few hundred demons ready to attack her. "I may be a great user of curses, but I doubt that even my abilities are strong enough to curse a godlike demon. Besides, these Makai weaklings are just too much fun to abandon~."

"It's quite obvious that Yuuka is stronger than us, so she can go, but we can't." Gengetsu said, the angel-like demon firing a Nightmare Spark at a large gaggle of Makai demons that managed to create a hole in Yuuka's little barrier of flowers. The aforementioned youkai was observant, summoning more sunflowers and magical flowers of the like.

"I agree with Sister, especially because these weaklings are a lot more fun to fight." Mugetsu said, a large grin growing on her face. "When Big Sis and I are done, these demons will be having nightmares of us for years, one way or another~."

"Ah, such kind words. You two are truly sweet-hearted demons, aren't you?" Yuuka responded to the dream demon sisters, without even a spec of sarcasm. The youkai then cast her red eyes towards the shinigami and bat youkai by her side. "Elly, Kurumi, I'm going to play with this Lady Shinki of this realm. You two can stay here, despite everything you two seem to be enjoying your battles against the demons."

"Yes, Lady Yuuka~!" Elly and Kurumi responded enthusiastically, even giving the youkai a salute, which only really made her laugh.

"It is quite clear that out of all of us, Reimu, Marisa, Mima and Yuuka are the strongest." Yumemi said, sounding almost robotic as she was speaking it as an observation. Yumemi then outstretched a hand towards the four dramatically, the Outsider suddenly having a spotlight casted on her. "Oh great and powerful warriors, I beg you that you fight Shinki while we sacrifice ourselves to keep these other demons at bay."

"Wow, way to dramatize." Marisa commented, the mysterious spotlight that shone on Yumemi disappearing as the red-haired teenager suddenly looked like the colour was drained from her. "Oh well, Eggplant and I are an invincible duo, and with Madam Mima on our side we're even more invincible."

"And what about me, Dandelion?" Yuuka asked, the youkai leaning close to the little girl.

"Eh, you're pretty strong yourself, you even managed to be somethin' against Rei and I, so you can definitely join too, Flower Power." Marisa responded, pushing Yuuka away from her as the supernatural creature was coming uncomfortably close to her.

"Well then, it's decided." Rikako said in a matter-of-fact voice, the purple-headed adjusting her glasses slightly, giving the four females a serious look. "You better not fail us, a lot is at stake here."

"Of course we won't fail, this should be no problem for powerhouses like us." Mima said, the spellcaster ghost narrowing her eyes at the scientist. "Of course though, if you were to actually use the immense magical power of your bloodline, this would be over quickly."

"Hmph." Rikako responded, the scientist looking away from the ghost. "I do not need magic, I need only science. You can handle this easily, can't you? Well go stop Shinki while we fend off these Makai demons."

"Okay." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden honestly wanting to just stop Shinki as fast as possible; the longer her plans went on, the more poisoned Gensokyo would become. She looked down at Genji, the turtle still frozen, looking like he was trapped in some sort of traumatic memory of Yumeko. She simply tapped him on the head with her wooden wand, the turtle slowly returning to reality. "Hey, Gramps, nap time is over! C'mon, we're going to where Shinki is while everyone else handles the Capital demons."

"Huh- er, wha…?" Genji responded, blinking in confusion.

"Allow me to explain it to you." Mima responded, the ghost floating just inches away from Genji's scaly face. "We've come to a decision that Reimu, Marisa, Yuuka and I go to Pandemonium and fight Shinki while the others hold off against the demons in the Makai Capital, since handling them all and fighting Shinki personally would take too long, especially if some of the Makai demons from earlier decide to come here and fight as well. And since you are needed for Reimu to fly, you're coming with us."

"O... Okay." Genji responded, the turtle-like entity actually sweating. "I just hope that we don't get the misfortune of fighting Yumeko... or invoking Shinki's wrath...!"

The quartet of females flew away, towards where Pandemonium was located, where Shinki should be hiding. The countless flowers that Yuuka put up to stop the attacking demons of the Capital went down. The demons smirked, thinking that they could fight against the Gensokians, only for them to be hit by the attacks of the humans and non-humans.

* * *

"Aha, this is where they went," Matenshi said, the angel-like youkai looking triumphant as she pointed at a stone slab standing on the ground, still unprotected by the cave that surrounded it before Kana removed it with telekinesis. "This is definitely where they went. Mima's power is faint, but I'm certain that this power I'm sensing is hers. We just need to pass through that door, and we'll finally be in Makai."

"Yes, yes, good~!" Orange cheered, the youkai whirling her baton around and even tossing it into the air and catching it. "It's a good thing that the one day when luck doesn't hate me is when I get to meet such a cool and awesome friend like you, Matenshi~!"

"Aww, don't be so modest, Orange~." The other youkai responded happily, the purple-haired and red-haired clasping each other's hands like they were already best friends for a long time. "There is no friend that is more awesome than you, My Ultimate Baton Wielder~!"

"No, you're the modest one, My Ultimate Angel of True Justice." Orange responded, their friendship already turning so sweet it can give you cavities and make you sick.

The two youkai giggled, walking towards the seemingly unprotected gate. Suddenly five yellow disks appeared in front of the duo, a single eye opening on each disk respectively, red and bloodshot, connected by chains of electricity.

"Halt, Baton Youkai, Angel Youkai." The mysterious creature said. "We are YuugenMagan. YuugenMagan is the gatekeeper of Makai. If you wish to enter Makai, defeat YuugenMagan."

"What the...?" Orange said, the youkai shaking her head from side to side, the red-eyed woman glaring at YuugenMagan. "Looks here... whoever you are, get out of our way or else."

"Orange, I don't think that it'll just let us pass." Matenshi said, the youkai floating up into the air as she prepared her magical powers. "It said it itself, it's the gatekeeper of this Makai. We must combine our power, and show this creature that it has the misfortune of us to face such a duo."

Matenshi fired lasers and danmaku at YuugenMagan, the electric creature closing its eyes, protecting it from being hurt by the danmaku Matenshi shot its way. YuugenMagan then opened its eyes, shooting lightning bolts at Matenshi, defeating her instantly; all that remained of the non-human was nothing but ash.

"Matenshi!" Orange shrieked, the youkai glaring at YuugenMagan, using the power of her baton to take some of its electric power, the same demon electricity sparking around her tool. Matenshi resurrected, her youkai powers allowing her to heal from even that attack unleashed on her. "Alright, Matenshi, let's show them what we got!"

* * *

Even as Reimu (on top of Genji), Marisa, Mima and Yuuka flew further into Makai, away from the Capital where they fought the Makai demons, many of the demons kept on appearing, firing danmaku at them. They were a lot easier to defeat, due to being weaker and in smaller groups. Of course they had to fire danmaku back, the quartet quickly flying away before the demons could heal completely. It wasn't much of a hindrance, they could just escape the weak demons, but it sure could be an annoyance.

"Wow, this is amazingly even easier than before." Marisa said as she flew through the air on her broomstick. "I didn't even need to use one of my stronger spells. I tell ya, once we find this Shinki I'm gonna beat her on my own, I'll just be overflowing with mana and blast her away into pieces."

"Don't be overconfident." Genji scolded of Marisa as they continued to fly closer to Pandemonium. "Shinki possesses magic that is comparable to that of a Magic God. She was ancient before even your master's parents were born, and she knows more magic spells than an entire continent of magic guilds combined. You should keep complete attention on her and never lose yourself to overconfidence, especially as she possesses the Ultimate Magic; the pinnacle of all magic."

Marisa was silent, the magician looking forward, Genji's words were stuck in her head. And it really made her think.

Reimu looked back at the capital that they came from, seeing only distant buildings and flashing lights. "I hope they're okay." Reimu said as she rode on Genji, the ancient being and the other females still flying forward. "I don't have many friends, and it would sadden me greatly if they were to die."

"Oh don't worry, most of them are immortal or a ghost." Mima responded to the shrine maiden's words, waving her hand casually. "Though Meira, Yumemi, Chiyuri, Kotohime and Rikako are human and definitely mortal. And even though Ellen is a witch and basically immortal, she can still be killed..."

"Enough, enough, shut up!" Reimu yelled at Mima, the shrine maiden even wasting one of her ofuda by throwing it at the ghost, the holy paper hitting the spectre in the side of the head, only hurting her slightly.

"Okay, okay." Mima responded jokingly. "Though I must remind you, I'm dead myself, and I love to talk about the macabre."

"Ah, isn't this conversation wonderful~?" Yuuka asked, the green-haired youkai keeping her parasol open above her shoulder. "I could listen to this all-HURK!"

Yuuka was suddenly shot right through the chest with a red laser, the laser destroying the area on her chest where her heart is located, destroying the organ and killing her. Reimu, Genji, Mima and Marisa watched in surprise as Yuuka's corpse fell to the ground, disappearing as she fell a long plummet.

"Hahahahaha, right where it's the most sensitive." A female voice said from where the laser came from, the four looking forward to the caster of the laser. "One down, four to go~! This is a good day for Keiko~!"

She was a Makai demon with the body of a teenager, having long blonde hair that looked like fresh gold, her eyes as red as a blood moon. She had four wings on her back that looked like the wings of a bat, albeit big enough to carry her, though there was an overall feeling that they weren't necessary to fly anyways. She was wearing a blue dress with a short-looking skirt, ending just above her knees, a large, white scarf surrounding her neck. A smile flashed on her face, revealing her fangs.

 **Transcendent Bat**

 **Keiko**

"Oh great, some target practise." Marisa jested, pointing her magic wand at Keiko, the little star at the end glowing with magic. "You ready to see the love-coloured magic of The Great Marisa Kirisame?"

* * *

 **Another long chapter... sheesh. I guess this is like the chapter where Reimu and Marisa fought Gengetsu, where it should have ended halfway and just be two different chapters. Maybe I'm forgetting how to make a modestly long chapter, so here's this.**

 **I originally intended for Alice to appear at the end, but that can wait for the next chapter, since she is meant to appear after the Gensokians cause a lot of destruction in Makai. So instead we get this OC, with a regular Japanese name.**

 **I'll have to think up things for her later.**

 **And the battle against Konngara and Sariel... that is something that I've been planning for a while, we'll see more of it in a later chapter.**

 **I also planned for the main quartet to be cut off from the others through one way or another, since they are the only people you play as in the original game. We'll be getting some fight scenes between them and other Makai demons, and I even plan for Elis and Miyuki to return and fight against some of them. Sara and Louise will also appear again later (they may have been reduced to atoms, but they're still demons that can resurrect), though they won't be fighting against the main four, instead they will be fighting against the others.**

 **Sara being a demon that is more physical than magical in combat is something that just came to me. I guess that, since I swapped her official position as gatekeeper of Makai with YuugenMagan, I should give her something else that is unique.**

 **Louise is meant to be a mostly kind demon, though she will still fight if Makai is put in danger. Like most Makai demons, she is more powerful in her magic than physical skill, though she's still stronger than the regular Makai demon. As for Luana, the sister I made for Louise in this fanfic, she is meant to be the Louise that appears later on in stage 4. That is, in the original game she is Louise and in this she's a different person entirely; a 'twin'. It was just a thought that occurred to me, and is a part of the Maiden's Capriccio canon now, I guess.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	38. In The Mystic Square

After the four females had flown off closer to Pandemonium, the humans and non-humans that were holding off the Makai demons in the Makai Capital decided to split off into different and smaller groups, since despite their relatively weaker power, more and more of them kept on appearing, seemingly without end, so it was best decided that they were to split up to divide the demons into smaller groups. The plan was successful, as the Makai demons did as planned.

It also meant that the Gensokians could hold back less without having to accidently hit one of their members.

As it were, Kotohime, Rikako, Ellen and Kana were all paired into a team, the four deciding to lower to the ground, as Rikako's jetpack was damaged by a bullet fired by a Makai demon. "Well that is an annoying inconvenience." The scientist complained as she took off the jetpack, the invention now unable to work from the hole in it, which leaked fuel from it. She huffed in irritation, her hands akimbo. "Guess we'll now have to stay on the ground."

"Well we could fly some more if you were to just use magic." Kotohime responded, not a spec of annoyance in her voice as she kept a happy face, throwing her bombs at the demons, destroying them with a single explosion.

"Don't you have a magic cloud that can carry people, such as yourself." Rikako responded, adamant about not using her magic, even at this situation. She adjusted her glasses as she glared at her friend, the magician-turned-scientist summoning the her multicoloured orbs, the objects flying around her at rapid speeds, shooting out white danmaku everywhere to hit the demons attempting to attack her. "Surely that thing can carry me if it can carry you."

"Sorry, it can only carry those of the royal Sonozika family; it's part of the magic." The crazy princess responded rather bashfully, blushing in embarrassment, however she started to glare at her friend. "Wait, are you calling me fat?!"

Rikako remained silent, the scientist trying to find another way to divert Kotohime's attention.

Luckily, a certain poltergeist was doing it for her. "Oh it doesn't matter how fat and heavy you are, as a ghost everyone is weightless~." Kana said cheerfully, using her telekinesis to pick up the Makai demons that were in the form of quadruped reptiles, the creatures trying to escape from the ghost's telekinesis, but there was no hope for them. Other demons, ones with the form and minds of fairies, were flying right towards Kana, trying to get close to her to fire their danmaku at her. The blonde spectre just smirked at them, making a stop sign appear in her hand, using it to deflect the demons' danmaku and whack them with it. "These demons are so much fun to fight~."

"Freeze! Freeze! Freeze!" Ellen yelled, the witch casting a freezing spell at a bunch of demons. The demons were of course frozen in ice, unable to move from the positions they were in when the blonde witch casted the spell. Ellen, with Sokrates still on her shoulder, spun around and did a cute pose towards the other people of the Dimensional Dream incident. "Fuwa~!"

"That's the spirit!" Kana cheered, flipping Ellen a thumbs up. All of a sudden, the ghost was surrounded in ice. Kana opened her eyes, blinking in surprise as she easily floated out of the shard of ice that surrounded her, her abilities as a ghost making it nigh impossible for any ice in existence to freeze her. "Hey, I know it's exciting to beat up demons, but keep yourself from freezing me."

"But I didn't cast the freeze spell on you..." Ellen said, the blonde looking at the cat on her shoulder with a confused and troubled expression. "Did I?"

"Damn, I really thought my demon ice would have frozen her perfectly." A voice complained from above, the two blondes and purple and red haired females looking up to see a Makai demon that had the form of a little girl, having short, silver hair and a bow on her head; dressed in a black and white dress and having nails that were long and as black as obsidian itself. She had a disgusting grimace of an expression, being the caster behind the ice. Floating next to her was another Makai demon in the form of a little girl, having blonde hair, purple eyes, a white shirt underneath a blue vest with a red bow and a red dress with purple markings near its edges and large wings like that of a bat on her back, holding a little, white wand that was much like Marisa's. "Turns out ghosts are immune to my ice."

"Don't worry 'bout it, Miyuki." Elis cheered, patting her friend on the shoulder in a comforting manner. The demon then looked down at the four Gensokians and the cat, a large grin of malevolent intent appearing on her face. "After all, ghosts aren't immune to danmaku."

Kana quickly figured out what Elis was meaning, the poltergeist picking up all the nearby rubble of the buildings that were destroyed during the attack, using her telekinesis to pick up the rubble and shoot it towards Elis and Miyuki.

"Oh look, clay pigeons~!" Elis cooed, the demon pointing her wand towards the rubble. Without any care that they were once a part of the buildings of this area of the capital, she let out a powerful and widespread lightning attack, the elemental attack breaking apart the building pieces, still heading forwards towards the poltergeist that threw them. Not wanting to feel pain, Kana flew out of the way of the lightning, the electrical sparks barely even grazing her ghostly skin. Kana let out a sigh of relief, only for long, sharp claws that were as dark as a cloudy night to stab through her spectral torso. "Good one, Miyuki. That aught to make you more chipper~!"

Despite already being dead, with the claws stabbing through her body not even being a scratch to her spectral being, Kana could still feel them; and the pain that they inflicted on her algophobic being.

Kana let out an ear-piercing scream, causing Elis and Miyuki to cover their ears as they let out their own unholy shrills of pain, their advanced hearing making the scream something even more horrible than it was Rikako, Kotohime and Ellen.

Elis and Miyuki fell to the ground, passed out from the scream.

"Well, that was unexpected." Kotohime commented. The princess suddenly felt a large shadow cast over her, looking up and seeing a giant demons with fur that were also blacker than the night, almost beings a living silhouette of a circle with arms, legs and claws, its only real features being glowing red eyes and pristine teeth that make that of a shark look dull in comparison. The demon swung a claw at Kotohime, the princess managing to squeeze her form through a gap between two of its three claws as she jumped. Kotohime landed on the claw as it slammed against the ground, causing a tremor and cracking the ground. The demons, previously smiling, let out a angry growl. Before the Makai creature could do anything else, Kotohime stabbed the tip of her katana into one of its eyes, the creature jerking back with a loud roar of pain, green blood flowing out of its eye. Kotohime was sent flying into the air as the creature lunged back, her katana becoming removed from the eye, letting more blood spray out like a geyser. With the cut eye closed, the demon glared Kotohime as she started to fall back down again, the Gensokian making a bomb, bigger than her usual ones, appearing in her hand. "Never mess with the greatest cop in all of Gensokyo!"

The demon let out a roar, the red-haired woman throwing the bomb into its mouth, swallowed whole. The demon widened its safe eye, exploding as the bomb within set off.

Kotohime landed on the ground, smiling victoriously. She pointed her katana at other Makai demons that watched what happened, her victorious smile becoming a smirk.

"So, do you want to mess with me?" Kotohime asked, the Makaians flying away.

"What a bunch of cowards." Elis said grumpily, the demon shooting a powerful blast of fire at Kotohime. The self-proclaimed police officer didn't have time to escape, getting set on fire, screaming in pain. Elis let out a laugh. "Howdoya like that, chump? Know better than to attack Makai. Hahahahaha!"

Rikako immediately felt her blood turn cold in her veins, the self-proclaimed scientist feeling her magic spark to life within in her as her friend was flailing around on fire, screaming in pain. Rikako was hesitant, know that once she unleashed her magic, it would be hard for her to stop it again; she really hates magic, but her friend...

In a sudden moment of genius, Ellen made a giant sphere of water appear above her, the witch using her magic to make it spray down on Kotohime, dousing the princess. Kotohime was lying down on the ground, her body and clothes burned. Ellen began to press her hands together, her palms facing towards the unconscious princess, a faint green glow coming from the palms, healing Kotohime's body and clothes. Kotohime blinked awake, sitting upwards.

"Oh, great, one of them can heal." Elis said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest. "How peachy...!"

"Actually, it is~." Miyuki cheered, appearing behind her blonde friend. "This means we can enjoy killin' and torturin' these humans some more for their sin of attacking Makai. And unlike last time, Sariel won't stop us from going all out of these humans."

Elis was suddenly sliced in half by a purple line that cut through the air, the two pieces of the demon's dead corpse falling to the ground. "That is for trying to immolate me!" Kotohime yelled angrily, the livid princess holding her sword tight, a somewhat insane smile gracing her face as Elis' two pieces began to form back together, the demon reviving. "That was just the tip of the iceberg~! For trying to poison Gensokyo and trying to kill someone of the royal Sonozika, I will have to personally punish you. The court has already judged you, and you are determined to be fit for the death penalty."

Miyuki wasn't intimidated or scared by the princess, summoning multiple icicles with sharp ends that could easily cut through human flesh, the dozens of pieces of ice pointing right at the four Gensokians. "These icicles have ended countless warriors, even those protected by armour have shed blood and lost their lives to be because of these icicles alone." The silver-haired demon then shot her hand out towards them. "Die!"

Kana just huffed, the poltergeist using her telekinesis to stop the icicles and make them point at Elis and Miyuki instead. The two Makai demons flew out of the way before they could be impaled by the icicles.

"Oh, we are so going to enjoy shreddin' you four to pieces~!" Elis said as she charged up a spell into the star on her wand.

* * *

"So, who wishes to die next~?" Keiko asked, the demon outstretching her arm into the sky, summoning a golden staff with a ruby at the end, her hand closing tightly around the summoned item.

"Ohohoho, I'm afraid that you're a few centuries too late." Mima said with a smirk on her face, the spectre aiming her sceptre at the demon. "And it is very bold of you to assume that you can defeat us when I can easily reduce you to nothing with a simple beam spell."

"Ha, did you forget what I did to the green-haired lady?" Keiko asked, the blonde demon pointing her magical staff at Mima. "I shot her right in the heart."

"Yes, and it was quite the nasty and painful surprise." Yuuka said from behind Keiko, the demon being caught off guard and flying a certain distance away before looking at Yuuka, the human completely fine, with even her clothes repaired. Keiko couldn't help but gawk at the sight before her; she thought that she heard in the stories that humans die without fault when their hearts were destroyed. Yuuka let out a giggle, "What? Didn't you hear that youkai can regenerate their hearts? It may work in killing us, but like most deaths it only really lasts for a few seconds for us youkai."

"W-w-what?" Keiko asked, the bat-like demon shaking and sweating all over.

"Aww, how cute. You look just like Kurumi whenever she gets scared~." Yuuka cooed at Keiko's pure fear, the action still being saintly when compared to her past as the Ultimate Sadist Creature. Yuuka suddenly stopped smiling and looked seriously at Keiko, the demon pointing her closed parasol at the demon. "Sadly though, you're not as cute as Kurumi, and you're kinda poisoning my home. It's a good thing that you're immortal though."

"Aww Hell no!" Marisa said as she appeared at Yuuka's side, the magician protégé making the youkai lower her parasol. "Didn't you hear me in the last chapter? I'm goin' to show her the awesome power of my love-coloured magic."

"Oh, I see." Yuuka responded, automatically changing from her serious tone to a calm and sensible one, the youkai floating away and gesturing her arm towards the human. "By all means, do as you wish to her."

"Just don't take too long, Marisa." Mima said as she sat down on her staff, the object floating through her nearly endless well of magical power. "Just don't take too long. Personally I don't mind the poisons in the air of Makai, but I've grown to soft to let it poison Gensokyo."

"Wait, poison Gensokyo?" Keiko asked, surprised by what the demon casually said. "What are yo-GAH!"

Keiko was jabbed right into the stomach and ribs by the tip of Marisa's broomstick, the magician covered in a blue glow as she was using her Flashing Comet spell. Reimu sat on Genji's shell, watching her friend take on the demon. Keiko growled, waving around her sceptre as she summoned a large barrage of red fireballs, the spell coming out the same way as a Stardust Reverie.

"Ha, you really think that's gonna stop me?" Marisa said as she summoned her Orreries System, the coloured orbs shooting magic stars at Keiko, the Makai demon mostly dodging, though some of the danmaku managed to either graze her or outright hit her. Marisa sniggered and sneered at Keiko as she continued to dodge the fireballs summoned by the demon. "C'mon, is that really all ya got? Give me somethin' of a challenge."

Reimu looked down at Genji, seeing a sense of tenseness in the turtle's eyes, the ancient being trying to hide it as none of that emotion was on his face. "Hey, Gramps, is something of the matter?" Reimu asked politely, tapping the turtle with her wooden wand. "You look... uneasy."

"I don't really want to wait too long with this battle." Genji said as Marisa began to summon multiple magical circles that appeared in the air, firing elemental attacks at Keiko as the demon tried to evade them. Two of Marisa's Orreries were destroyed, but she looked unharmed outside of faint singes on her clothes and broom. Keiko looked like she was scared out of her mind, yet continued to fight, even with the lose of all her previous bravado, the demon resurrecting shortly after she was destroyed by either the stars from Marisa's Orreries, or one of the elemental attacks. "It is your job as a full shrine maiden to always protect Gensokyo, and as you still can't fly yet, I must help you. I know we're not strong enough to defeat Shinki on our own, especially with we have the misfortune of coming across Yumeko, so we need their help, but..."

"Don't worry, Genji," Reimu said sweetly as she patted the top of the entity's head, the same entity gaining attention of her actions as she used his real name. "We can just end it if it goes on for too long."

Reimu looked back at Marisa, the magician standing on her broomstick as it was flying the opposite way that she was facing, all of her Orreries destroyed and most of her magic circles vanished. Marisa didn't let that deter her though, a large smile on her face as she somersaulted through the air, avoiding the fire attacks that Keiko sent towards her, landing back on her broomstick and pointing her magic wand at the Makai demon, the little star glowing.

"Sorry, but you're just no match for me~!" Marisa said as she unleashed a dense barrage of star-shaped danmaku of various colours towards Keiko, the demon letting out a scream as she could barely avoid the barrage.

* * *

"What's with her power?" A Makai demon of the capital grunted as it avoided spheres sent towards him and his comrades by the mysterious woman. "Just one hit from her, and we go down."

"It will be over much easier if you just let my spheres touch you~." Noroiko said in a sing-song voice as she summoned and shot countless curse orbs, hitting Makai demons of various shapes and sizes with the curse. "It's just a curse of unbearable pain, not a curse of eternal pain; you'll be incapacitated by the pain, but it will only last for a few hours. Just touch it, ha, ha, ha~!"

"I swear you're sadistic!" A humanoid Makai demon said as she floated away from the red-haired youkai, unaware of the faint image passing through the air behind her. "What sort of person likes to say people will be incapacitated by pain and-HURK!"

The demon was cut in half by Meira, the human managing to fly through the air at speeds that even the demons had trouble following, cutting and dicing them into pieces with her katana.

"You know, Noro," Meira said as she floated beside the bow-wearing youkai, the same entity enjoying the sight of all the demons that were writhing from the curse she casted on them, "You don't really need to cast a curse like this. You could just cast a curse on them to make them fall into a deep slumber."

"I know, but this is much more entertaining~." Noroiko responded in an almost whimsical way.

Meira just sighed, keeping her katana out as she vanished as a blur, using her sword to create white lines that turned into danmaku that shot towards the Makai demons. Noroiko just ignored her friend's view on her methods, even though she saw it as being infinitely more effective than just killing the demons over and over again until they're too exhausted to continue.

* * *

"Nightmare Spark~!" Gengetsu said as she fired a large beam of pure magic, annihilating multiple demons that were in her way.

She was suddenly hit by danmaku from her back and sides, the demon having not predicted to be caught by surprise. Gengetsu teleported away, outside of the range of the demons, the blonde looking to see that they were just a bunch of eyeball demons, shooting their jagged danmaku from their pupils. Gengetsu was ready to pelt them away with danmaku, maybe even unleash another Nightmare Spark upon them, but her sister decided to destroy them instead.

"Hey, I was going to destroy them...!" Gengetsu complained, the dream demon casually shooting danmaku at Makai demons that were reviving from the hit they got from her Nightmare Spark. "Don't you have your own group of Makaians to handle?"

"Yeah, but they're too easy~." Mugetsu responded in a sing-song voice, teleporting out of the way of a golden laser shot by a gigantic eyeball demon, the maid-cosplaying sister firing danmaku at the demon as she flew out of the way of the endless magic bullets it would summon, along with its laser beam. "These things ain't as fun as Reimu and Marisa, but they're entertaining."

"I know, that was one of the greatest battles I've had in the many years that I've lived and enjoyed danmaku battles." Gengetsu agree with her sister, compressing an immense amount of magical energy into a sphere above her hand, throwing the sphere towards a large group of fairy-like demons, the ball of magic exploding into multicoloured star-shaped danmaku; not quite off from the type of danmaku favoured by Marisa and Mima. "Those two humans are quite extraordinary, especially for their arrogant race."

"Yeah, I know," Mugetsu concurred as she slammed a foot down on the head of the eyeball demons, the kick sending it flying down towards the ground, the demon smashing against the ground, the half-blood/half-corpse of its body no doubt going to heal in a few minutes, "Usually humans are very weak, despite everything that they believe of themselves, but those two are something different."

"And so young too... Nightmare Spark." Gengetsu said as she unleashed the laser attack against a bunch of Makai demons, the ones escaping the beam being hit by the dense danmaku that fell down from the sky, obviously shot and summoned by the elder of the dream sisters. "I'm not even sure if they really are humans or just something else that think their humans."

"That's simply humans for you, Sister," Mugetsu said as she unlashed a giant bolt of white lightning upon a group of demons that were trying to catch her by surprise; the white electricity sticking out its myriad arms like a spiderweb as it struck the misfortunate creatures, the fairy-like entities exploding into pure magical energy. "Most of the billions of them are just boring, common and all around nothing special. Yet, every century, a certain human or two actually proves themself to stand out an be something more than a powerless bag of flesh that would only live for a few measly years."

The large eyeball demon that shot out the laser flew back up into the air, once again unleashing a barrage and a giant laser towards the two sisters. Gengetsu blocked the laser with her Nightmare Spark, the demons' lasers being the exact same size, unable to destroy each other until both demons stopped their laser attacks.

"What do you say, Sister?" Gengetsu asked as she looked towards her younger, weaker sister. "Shall we show this demon why we are the two most terrible, most fearful demons."

"That sounds wonderful~." Mugetsu responded, the two sisters laughing evilly like axe-crazy maniacs, unleashing their own waves of danmaku against the larger demon, the poor creature of Makai not aware of how infinitesimal of a chance it has.

* * *

Elly and Kurumi were surrounded by broken buildings as they chose to also stay near the ground, though they were far away from the group that took part in the Dimensional Dream incident. The shinigami was relying on her usual attack of throwing her curved scythe around like a boomerang, the weapon cutting clean through the demons whenever they made contact, too fast for any of them to react before the blade of the scythe cut through their flesh and bone. The curved weapon even managed to destroy some danmaku along the way, though Elly still relied on danmaku.

Kurumi, however, wasn't having as much of an easy battle against the Makai demons as her friend and master would have, getting covered by cuts and damages all around her, still managing to shoot her lasers through the demons. Though, as many more began to appear, and even more kept on healing from the damages done to them by the two friends, it was becoming even more of a difficulty for the poor youkai, sweat marring on her forehead and underneath her armpits.

Elly looked to her side to her friend, taking deep breaths as she continued to fire more lasers towards the Makai demons. "Hey, Kuru, you okay?" Elly asked, the shinigami changing the shape of her scythe, becoming more like the regular scythe, using it to cut up an demons that were coming close. "You look like you could use a rest... You're literally sweating an entire pool there."

"It's okay." Kurumi reassured with a tired smile. "It's just that we're fighting more demons than I expected... I didn't believe that I would go exhausted this early."

A giant demon, one with the form of a big wolf of grey fur, lunged at Kurumi, the demon ready to bite off the youkai's head. Elly was quick to react, using her skills with a regular scythe to cut of the demon's own head before it could properly process what happened.

"Don't worry, Kuru." Elly said as she stared at the various Makai demons surrounding her and the youkai, keeping hold of her sharp scythe. "I will protect you."

"I don't need protecting, El." Kurumi responded, blushing slightly as she glared at her friend. "I've protected the Lake of Blood and Mugenkan perfectly for years, I can handle these enemies."

"It doesn't matter how strong you are, I will still protect you for being my dear friend." Elly responded calmly, the shinigami and bat youkai blasting more danmaku at the Makai demons, the two girls hoping that the demons would run out of energy or yield to pain before they would.

* * *

"I'm sorry, but you won't prove yourself to have good data." Yumemi said as she surrounded herself and Chiyuri with Infinity Bombs once again, releasing dense torrents of danmaku and making crosses of artificial magic fall from the sky. The demons tried to get past the barrier that the Outside World human put up with her destructive forces, barely able to get even their danmaku through. In fact, some couldn't even get a chance to find an opening in the sphere of endless explosions that the two were surrounded by as the crosses stabbed through their bodies like wet paper, dragging them down to the ground and exploding. "You're lucky I didn't decide to land the Probability Space Hypervessel here and begin my magic research here, because you would never get enough magic data before the deadline."

"The only thing that will be dead here is you filthy Gensokyo-inhabiting humans!" One angry Makai demon yelled, waving its fist like an old man complaining about the kids of the new generation.

"Wow, do you kiss your mother with that mouth of yours?" Chiyuri remarked as she shot a large burst of giant danmaku bullets that cut through the air, the blonde Outsider also summoning multiple magic circles that shot out lasers at odd angles. A profound look was suddenly in her eyes as she began to think about the remark. "Wait, since they're all meant to be Shinki's creations, is she technically their mother? And do they kiss her?"

"That's an interesting question." Yumemi responded calmly as she wrote it down in a small notebook that she suddenly had in her hands. "I got to remember to ask Shinki these questions if we manage to get on good sides with her."

"Shinki is our creator, not our mother." Another Makai demon yelled. "And you will never be friends with her for siding with The Monster."

"Oh, I see. That is multiple levels of disappointing." Yumemi said calmly as she scribbled out the words that she wrote down on the notebook. She paused, the human quickly writing something down into the book before shutting it and putting the item and pen into a mysterious hammerspace. Yumemi then pointed a palm towards the Makai demon. "I guess what Mima did was unforgivable, so you also consider us unforgivable. I see there is no point in trying to apologise, but do know that we aren't necessarily siding with Mima; it's more like we have a but of a common goal here."

"Wait, what?" A gruff Makai demon asked, confused as much as the other Makaians in the area.

"Yeah, we don't know what Mima did, didn't even know that Makai even existed for a long while, but we still can't let you poison the place we now live in." Chiyuri said, summoning the circle of artificial magic that she used in her battle against Reimu, shooting dense streams of danmaku from the small circles attached, the plain, white danmaku moving towards the demons quickly, hitting them. "You can't just damage a place to dangerous degrees and not expect those that live there to not retaliate."

"That's exactly what you're doing, Gensokians." A Makai demon said, charging up a sphere of green energy, but it was hit and reduced to mist by the Outsiders' danmaku.

"Yes, we are retaliating." Yumemi said casually, surrounding herself and Chiyuri with even more endless explosions of Infinity Bombs. It would be even more nigh impossible for any of the demons to make their way to the two humans; only a Makai demon that is far stronger than the average citizen of the dimension would be able to get a hit on either of them. Yumemi's calm expression melted away, the gears that ran her brain were already turning as she started to think more about what the demon said. She looked towards the girl at her side, the blonde noticing the nervous, dubious look in the older woman's eyes. "Chiyuri... do you think that _we_ are the ones that are attacking, and that the Makai demons are the ones retaliating...?"

That was an unexpected question.

Usually, at least in most of the works of fiction that she read, demons from a poisonous dimension invading another place in the universe, even if that place itself has its own fair share of supernatural creatures, is usually just a demonic dictator trying to conquer more places and all that other cliché (though not entirely unwelcomed) stuff.

Genji said that he wasn't certain why Shinki was suddenly sending demons to Gensokyo. All that anyone really knew is that if it isn't stopped, whatever it is, Gensokyo would end from the poison attached to the demons, or something like that. Besides, the demons were rude and kept on destroying everything in sight for fun... Okay, so the youkai and some of the humans are like that as well, but they are on a much smaller scope.

Then again, Chiyuri thinks she remembers seeing some demons exit their home as they started attacking. She thinks; she wasn't really paying attention.

Maybe attacking the capital of their home with a person who earned herself the moniker as 'The Monster' in a dimension like this was enough to make them think of them as evil. Maybe they are the ones attacking, and the demons are the ones retaliating.

Chiyuri growled in frustration, the Outsider grabbing her hair and pulling at it, not caring that she actually pulled out a few strands; this wasn't something that she thought would enter her mind today, or ever, really. She just knows that she woke up in bed, energised and spending a day off her new job as a scientist among the kappa in Gensokyo and enjoy the party. But if she knew this - questioning if she is doing the right thing by attacking demons in their dimension to stop them from entering Gensokyo - was going to happen, she would have just stayed in bed.

She knows she wasn't the kindest during that day that is known (or lack thereof) as the Dimensional Dream Incident, or even for some of the few days before that, but she was getting desperate to show the world that she once knew as her home that magic just exists.

(But those old farts that were the head of the scientific community of the Outside World refused to believe, making her and Yumemi pariahs. They were the persona non grata of the Outside World, she moved to Gensokyo with Yumemi)

Chiyuri sighed, not only was thinking about philosophical ideas and different perspectives definitely not her forte, but the constant sounds of the Infinity Bombs exploding indefinitely and the danmaku firing across the air, as well as the yells of the seemingly endless demons, were making it hard for her to think.

Chiyuri heard a grunt of pain come from her side, seeing Yumemi hugging her stomach as her face was scrunched in pain. The other Outsider let out a gasp, but the other girl put up a hand before she could do anything.

"It's okay, compared to what Reimu did back when we first met, this is nothing..." Yumemi grunted, reaching back into her hammerspace and pulling out a smartphone, a grin on her face. "I think it's time for some reinforcement. And I'm sure our little protégé in engineering will appreciate this opportunity."

* * *

Adequate lights were projecting down on her medium-height frame, the girl wearing goggles as she used a wrench to tighten a bolt, focussing to get it exactly right. She has been working on this for what has felt like forever ever since she got back her access to the advanced technology of the Outside World; the minutes passing in seconds, the hours in minutes, the days in hours, the weeks in days, and so forth.

When ever Rika got into the zone of inventing, especially when concerning her tanks, the rest of the world might as well not exist to her unless she needs it.

It was her biggest achievement in her entire life; a breakthrough in the power of Gensokyo's ingenuity and science. Though after seeing how great the technology was in the otherwise elusive Kappa Village, she did feel a slight depression that her achievement was considered only slightly above mediocre.

But she didn't let that keep her down, in fact she let the more advanced technology teach her that she can definitely improve even more. That was enough for the fire of her determination to be set alight once again.

Her face and clothes were dirty, covered in black smudges, though it was all more than worth it if it allowed Rika to advance her Evil Eye Sigma further.

Rika removed the wrench from the bolt, placing it down on the ground next to other scattered tools, like a screwdriver and hammer, more nuts and bolts laying down on the ground. Rika slammed the panel back on the odd, yet incredibly powerful, tank. Rika quickly ran away, the girl not waiting too long to reappear with a welding mask and the rest of the proper equipment, welding the panel back on. Rika quickly ditched the equipment and was back in her regular lab clothes, not caring for the dirty smudges that were still covering her from head to toe.

"Alright, let's see how you do now~." Rika said enthusiastically, entering inside the Evil Eye Sigma. Yumemi, Chiyuri and Rikako would usually get someone else to test if their inventions work, or if they are going to explode all around, usually getting one of the kappa to test it, as death is more like a stubbed toe for them, but Rika was different; ever since she made her first tank at a young age (albeit it was more like a toy tank that was barely bigger than her hand in the present time), she was always the one to test it out. Sure she has been exposed to more explosions than most humans would survive, but it managed to make her capable of surviving something like that.

Rika then felt a rumble in her pocket, the girl looking down and taking out the device in her pocket, a black rectangle, known as a 'smart phone', an item from the Outside World that Yumemi and Chiyuri decided to bring to make communication between them, Rika, Rikako and the kappa much more easier.

Rika glanced at the screen, seeing the picture of the red-haired Outsider. Rika smiled, swiping the green circle on the screen and moving the phone to her ear. "Hey, Yumi~!" Rika said happily, her overall good mood making her refer to the other girl by her little nickname for her. "How's it doing in this Makai?"

"It's... kinda going bad, really." Yumemi responded, the sounds of explosions and danmaku and lasers shooting through the air in the background of her message. "Some stronger Makai demons are starting to appear, and they're somehow finding a way to get past my barrier of Infinity Bombs. Do you think that you're finished with your Evil Eye Sigma."

"Think? I know I'm finished." Rika responded triumphantly with bravado. "Not only is this thing bigger, stronger, flashier and all around awesomer than before, but I even managed to make it that you can breathe in it when underwater, in space and even in a poisonous dimension like Makai."

"Ah! …Uh, that's good for you. Really...!" Yumemi responded as the sounds of explosions, danmaku and lasers became louder, with more and more sounds of struggling coming from the phone. "Hey, do you think you could come over to Makai. Like, right now. We're going to need help."

Rika could hear the sound of Chiyuri screaming in the background, the same Outsider letting out an angry grunt before a loud sound of danmaku firing was heard.

"There, that'll show ya!" Chiyuri yelled.

"So yeah, if you could come over right now- Oh, hold on a sec..." Yumemi said, letting out a yell as she presumably fired some danmaku at the immortal non-humans of Makai. "Yeah, we could really use your help...!"

"Don't worry, Yumi, I'll come over and show them - and Rikako - that my Evil Eye Sigma is the greatest tank in Creation, and that they're no match for it." Rika responded, the girl entering her tank from the removable panel at the top of the tank, not caring that she is still covered by the smudges, the black marks spreading to the chair and the many knobs and buttons as she pressed down on them. The Evil Eye Sigma made a whir as it turned on; becoming alive. Soft, dim lights glowed within the tank, the dress-wearing tank floating up into the air. Rika let out a laugh. "Those demons won't know what's gonna hit them."

"That's... that's good." Yumemi responded hesitantly. "Just..."

Yumemi mumbled something quickly, her voice being inaudible from the booms and static. Yumemi hung up before Rika could question her, the Gensokyo native shrugging it off. She clasped the handles of the Evil Eye Sigma, the handles like something from the Outside World that Yumemi and Chiyuri showed her from photos and videos - she believes it is a motorcycle.

Getting a signal of where Yumemi is located, Rika spoke into the microphone within her tank. "Alright, open up the door." Rika said, the large, metal door in front of her opening. Rika chortled with excitement that could barely be contained, the engineer and her advanced tank flying through the air, heading towards a location near the Hakurei shrine; the portal to Makai.

* * *

"Damn, that took far longer than I expected." Orange huffed, Matenshi was beside her, doing the exact same action as they were both left exhausted by the battle. Even with their combined strength, they could barely defeat the demon, and even then they were killed quite a few times, the only reason why they didn't lose to the electric demon being that they can revive nearly an infinite amount of times, and even then it was because only one died at a time. The electricity surrounding Orange's baton died out, the youkai glaring at the five disks that composed of YuugenMagan. "How are you so strong?!"

"YuugenMagan is a proud and powerful demon of Makai." YuugenMagan responded, its eyes in the form of swirls. "YuugenMagan should have won...!"

"Well, you're no match for a duo like us...!" Matenshi cheered, the youkai and her friend bumping fists. "You should have known that you would have never stood a chance against us."

"But YuugenMagan remembers killing both of you multiple times." The yellow demon responded, its eyes returning to normal as it gave an annoyed look towards the two. "If neither of you were youkai, you have both died once and lost to YuugenMagan."

The two youkai ignored the demon, the stone doors of the portal to Makai opening up by an invisible force. Before either of the two could walk further and enter, something flew through the air at high-speeds, breaking Orange and Matenshi's eardrums as it managed to squeeze through the rock door.

The three non-humans blinked as they processed what happened.

"What was that?" Orange asked, staring at the bright light of the gateway's entrance.

"I believe a giant creature in a green dress jus flew right past us, though it had a body most odd." Matenshi answered, not getting much of a better look at the creature due to the faint lapse in time that she saw it. The purple-eyed woman then widened the aforementioned eyes. "Orange, do you think that it was a Makai demon?!"

Orange paused and bite her tongue, having little to no suspicion that it wasn't a demon of Makai.

Her only guess of it being something other than a Makai demon was that it was a Gensokyo youkai that found out about the incident that the duo heard of from that odd maid at the Hakurei shrine, either having a form that neither of them knew about prior, or it was just an illusion of the mind as a similar-looking youkai passed by at high-speeds, possibly a tengu looking to take some pictures and use it to make an article for the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, or some other newspaper business that she had nothing to see before.

But even then, Orange could guess that it has a very minimal chance of being true

"No, it's not a Makai demon." YuugenMagan said as it laid completely flat on the ground, bored, red eyes looking up at the azure sky. "YuugenMagan knows Makai demon when Makai demon close, and that is not Makai demon."

YuugenMagan was left paused as it continued to look up at the now exposed sky of Gensokyo, hoping that Lady Shinki or one of the Youkai Saints would fix the damage that Hakurei Maiden and The Monster made. The eyes on the disks that were YuugenMagan widened as the pupils shrunk to the size of an ant, seen by the perspective of a very tall human, or humanoid.

"Halt! You must defeat...!" YuugenMagan began, the gatekeeper stopping as it seemingly let out a sigh from all the eyes on its body, or at least around its eyes. It felt exhausted, absolutely tired from that immense attack Hakurei Maiden shot towards it, as well as from those attacks by the two youkai - though it was particularly from the former. YuugenMagan just hopes that the Hakurei Maiden is under mind control and not siding with The Monster willingly. If that former is the case, then The Hakurei Maiden will be spared to wrath of Lady Shinki. "Auugh…! Great Lady Shinki in Pandemonium, YuugenMagan can't fight anymore...!"

"Should we do something about that demon?" Matenshi asked, the angel-like youkai suddenly having holy crosses in her hands. "We could exorcise him from Gensokyo."

"Nah, I feel like he's suffered enough, and this is coming from someone who suffers misfortune daily." Orange responded, the baton-wielding youkai jumping into the bright light within the stone door. Matenshi shrugged and threw the crosses at YuugenMagan - the cheap fakes not doing a single piece of damage to him, following after her new best friend.

Orange and Matenshi both hoped that they would have the luck of not encountering any Makai demons right away, letting their regenerative abilities heal them to full health (or at least somewhere near there) before they fight against some of the Makai demons, or even have a chance to be cool and save the lives of one of the other Gensokians (maybe even that shrine maiden herself) and feel like a success for once.

But, considering fate's hatred of both them with every part of its abstract being (or its love to be a sadist and make them both suffer even more than it does with most people), they instead just had to arrive as a bunch of Makai demons that looked like they could be an entire army.

There were many demons of various sizes and colours, it was almost hard to believe that only one entity created all of them. Almost.

Two demons that particularly stood out were a demon with a female humanoid form, having hair at a shade of purple that was so light that it looked pink, wearing a red dress with some white around it. The other was a blonde demon, wearing a dress of white and purple.

At the very least, the two Gensokyo youkai were lucky enough to not be noticed by the demons; the Makaians looking away as they looked at the large city in the distance.

"What was that?" The blonde demon asked. "All I remember is returning from that green-haired lady's giant beam attack, and then suddenly this big, black and green thing just flew over and passed us."

"I don't know, Louise. I don't know." The red dress-wearing demon to her side responded. Even though neither of the two Gensokyo youkai, quietly sneaking past the two demons, could see her face, the way her body tensed and a growl tore out of her throat were enough evidence to Orange and Matenshi that she was getting angry, confirming it with an angry swear. "I never thought that The Monster would comeback, especially as a ghost. I was certain that by now she would be burning in the deepest, hottest, most torturous region of Hell. Instead she's back and bringing a shrine maiden and a tone of fire power with her...! Dammit!"

The demon then stuck two of her fingers into her mouth, letting out a high-pitched whistle, attracting the attention of the Makai demons.

And causing all of them, with the exception of her and Louise, to see them. What rotten misfortune!

"Alright, listen up now." The main demon said, her hands akimbo as she seemingly looked at the other residents of the demon dimension. Of course, the other demons were looking past her and towards the duo, though it didn't seem like she was aware... For this transient moment. "I know you'll wanted a vacation in Gensokyo, get to see the sights, try the cuisine, and enjoy some simple danmaku plans. I wanted to enjoy that as well, but it seems like Gensokyo - or to be more exact, The Monster - has launched an a war against us today. Whenever that is a good or bad thing depends on how you look at the subject. She is probably going to try what she did when she last came here once again, maybe even something worse. I still remember when I saw her, her bodies covered in..."

"Umm... Sara." Louise said, tapping the other demon on the shoulder.

Sara looked at Louise, the demon raising an eyebrow in confusion, "Yes?"

"There's some more Gensokians behind you." Louise said flatly, pointing at the youkai duo.

Sara turned towards the two youkai, immediately glaring at the Gensokians. "So you two are teaming with The Monster, aren't you?" The demon accused, going into a fighting stance as a red aura surrounded her, air shooting out every which way from her power. "If you wish to go any further, I will end you both. I know what you youkai are like, killing you may only be temporary, but it will be enough for me to figure out how strong you are."

"I-I'll fight as well." Louise said, the magic-oriented demon making the air around her rise, spheres of pure magic appearing above her hands. "I usually don't like fighting, but I can't let this invasion go on. I don't want Makai to be either erased off the face of existence or to be taken over by The Monster."

"If you fight against us, you will stand no chance." Orange said, pointing her baton towards the many Makai demons in front of her and Matenshi. "This baton of mine can drain people's powers and allow me to use it. Try to fight me and-"

Sara was suddenly in front of Orange, the purple-haired demon upper-cutting the youkai underneath the chin. Despite still being stronger than the average human, physically at least, Orange's head went shooting up into the sky, her decapitated corpse falling down to the ground. Matenshi gasped at sight of her friend, without a head as blood leaked out of the opening.

Matenshi faced towards Sara, the angel-like youkai preparing to fire lasers and danmaku at the demon, but before she could react, she was shot through the chest by a blue laser, the youkai being pelted by red, rocket-shaped danmaku, falling down as a burnt corpse.

"Hmph, they were easy." Sara said, the demon turning around and facing towards the other Makai demons, her hands akimbo. "Alright, all of you stay here in case any other youkai or whatever enter in from Gensokyo. If you spot one of them, unleash hell on them. Be sure to do the same to those youkai."

Sara was pointing at the corpses of Orange and Matenshi, already regenerating from the damage done to their bodies.

"Louise and I will go back to The Capital and try to stop the attacking Gensokians; we're stronger than the average Makai demon, as you all know, so we will be the ones to fight them." The purple-eyed demon continued, looking towards her blonde friend. "Are you ready, Louise?"

"Y-Yeah... I guess so." Louise stuttered, the two demons flying off back to the buildings in the distance.

* * *

"Dammit, hold still, human!" Keiko yelled as she continued to shoot fireballs at Marisa, the magician just continuing to smirk at her as she fired her signature danmaku at the demon, avoiding the fire that the demon kept on sending her way. "I'll burn you to a crisp skeleton!"

"You should really get your temper under control." Marisa sneered at the red-eyed demon, waging her finger at her. Marisa then started waving her wand around as she summoned swords made of water, the conjured weapons flying towards Keiko. "If you get controlled by your rage, things are just gonna get worse for ya~!"

Keiko dodged the swords, summoning red magic circles around her, the circles firing lasers of the exact same colour towards the blonde human. "Shut up and lose to me!" Keiko yelled, not listening to what Marisa was saying; these Gensokians had just suddenly came to Makai and began beating everyone up and destroying the buildings. And for what, just wanting to enjoy some time within Gensokyo? What a bunch of jerks!

Then again, The Monster is with them, so it would make sense that they would be so willing to hurt people for the sake of it.

"Hey..." Marisa waved at Keiko casually, the magician protégé lying on her side, a mellow expression on her face, enough proof that she didn't take this battle seriously. "Sorry, but I got places to go, people to beat, so I'll end this quickly for ya."

Before Keiko could do anything, her wand was kicked out of her hand by Marisa, the item disappearing into the abyss of darkness hidden within the buildings. The demon paused as she looked at her empty hand, being one of the few Makai demons that need an item like a wand to use their powers properly.

"Fu- Fudge!" Keiko said, stopping her swear. Though it was rather meaningless for her to stop as Marisa pointed her magic wand at the demon at point-blank range.

"Burst. Dragon." Marisa said, a large smirk on her face. Keiko was hit without a chance to escape or counter, being hit by a dragon made of fire, the creature exploding upon touching her. Keiko fell down to the ground, a trail of smoke coming from her as the unconscious demon sunk into the same abyss as her wand.

"There, that wasn't too long." Marisa said as she faced towards the other four with her, throwing her wand up and down, the item spinning whenever it was in the air. "Now lets get to Shinki and kick her butt already. I've been looking forward to fighting her when I heard about how strong she is."

"It... would be nice to have a rematch against Shinki, though I'm afraid it will have to wait." Mima spoke calmly, pointing towards a bunch of fairy-like Makai demons flying towards them, firing various forms of danmaku towards the five, even though they were nowhere near close to humans and non-humans. "It seems that despite how quickly that battle was resolved, the sheer flashiness of it alone was enough to attract the attention of more annoying weaklings."

"Oh..." Marisa said, looking away as she had some sort of look of an epiphany in her eyes. "I guess sometimes danmaku shouldn't be all flashy."

"Indeed." Yuuka responded calmly, the youkai looking towards the swarm of Makai demons, seemingly more and more of them joining the fray as they came closer and closer. Yuuka just smirked, pointing her parasol at them, magic glowing at the tip. "Oh well, a few more seconds isn't going to make the end of Gensokyo imminent. Just a little blast, and they'll be gone in no time."

Mima pointed her staff at the oncoming demons as she surrounded herself with her own Orreries, of course the demons were aiming towards her because of the infamous action she caused countless years ago; Reimu prepared her gohei in case she had to whack any of the demons, the Yin-Yang Orbs by her side glowing with holy energy as Reimu prepared to fire holy danmaku; Marisa sat back down on her broomstick, prepared to cast some more spells as Keiko proved to be too little of a match for her and her love-coloured magic; Yuuka smiled as she closed her parasol once again, wanting to end it quickly and swiftly, for all of them.

And it was over quickly as Fantasy Seals, Stardust Reveries, Dim Sparks and Master Sparks when flying through the air, reducing the Makai demons to a mist of atoms, though they would soon resurrect due to their supernatural abilities as non-humans.

"Ha, that was barely even a challenge." Mima said as she made her Orreries disappear. "We should get to Shinki in relatively little time, unless if we face Yumeko."

Genji made a large audible gulp upon the thought of having to fight the demon maid; even though Shinki is stronger than her, her tactics and abilities can make for a horrifying time. Reimu was well aware of the fear that was one Genji's face, and she could even see a faint spec of the same emotion behind Mima's smug mask.

Marisa and Yuuka looked at each other and merely shrugged, though Reimu could feel nervousness slowly develop in her stomach; an enemy that is feared by the likes of Genji and Mima is someone that is better off avoided.

It didn't help that Reimu had a feeling that she would encounter and be forced to fight this Yumeko.

Nevertheless, Reimu didn't make Genji stop as he flew her forwards with the rest of the quartet; if Genji and Mima can fly further, deeper into Makai, knowing that there is a possibility to fight this mysterious Yumeko and not even show fear as they flew forwards, then she should not be afraid. She is no longer a trainee, she is a full Hakurei shrine maiden (unless if you think otherwise, due to her not having the ability to fly), and she must fight for Gensokyo's survival, no matter what.

Even if she gives her life so Gensokyo to survive... that is her duty as shrine maiden.

"Hold on, wait." Yuuka said, the powerful youkai stopping. Genji, Marisa and Mima stopped to look at her, the green-haired sniffing at the air. "I smell... something odd. Like it's both demon and human..."

"Hey, look there!" Reimu said as she pointed towards the distance, a blurry shape of blue, pink and yellow flying right towards them, the odd aura coming closer along with her, her shape becoming more defined as she was no longer such a distance away.

"A little girl?" Mima questioned as the human (?) came closer towards them, tears in her eyes. "That's strange, I don't remember seeing her any previous times I went here, and Shinki has never created a human child before."

The girl stopped in front of them, her arms stretched out towards her sides, tears in her eyes.

"Please... please stop!" The girl sobbed. "Please, stop destroying my home!"

* * *

 **Sorry for the lateness of this chapter (at least when compared to how frequently I usually post a new chapter of this fic), there were a few days where I could barely write anything, so this is later than I hoped it would be.**

 **Yeah, no love for the original character. It kind of dawned on me that, since I will be writing for basically every character that has appeared in the past, through one way of another, I won't be able to write that much about completely original characters, with everything that I have to make, and such.**

 **Whops...**

 **Of course, like I promised, Alice did appear in this chapter, and Rika is finally making her appearance with the Evil Eye Sigma. Oh yeah, and Sara and Louise are going to have some fight scenes, but obviously not against any of the main four.**

 **The next chapter will be more focussed on a fight between Alice and the main quartet, or at least scenes with them. Maybe there will be some more of the battle against Konngara and Sariel, I don't know.**

 **But the chapter after that will definitely be focussed on the others, at least more than the main four.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	39. Romantic Children of Plastic Minds

"Please, stop." The little girl cried further, her arms to outstretched, like it was going to stop them. Her golden eyes were absolutely covered in tears, the five Gensokians even wondered if she could see them as anything more than blurs. "You're... you're ruining everything! You're breaking all the buildings. Please, stop destroying my home!"

The humans and non-humans exchanged glances, looking back at the mysterious little girl. Mima, being probably the most used to Makai from her past in the dimension prior to her incident, decided to be the one to ask the mysterious human (?) about who she is and why she is in Makai. The mysterious person had broke into outright crying, the sound being rather annoying to listen to, only making Mima's desire to ask her even greater, if only so she can get the child to stop it with the annoying crying.

"Are you... Are you a new creation of Shinki." Mima asked. The mysterious child stopped crying, blinking away the tears around her eyes.

"I'm not one of Mummy's creations." The girl responded. "I'm her daughter."

"Daughter?!" Genji said in disbelief, the incredulous turtle trying to understand what we was told. Shinki had never had interest in children for centuries, the Demon Goddess having been far more interested in having creations instead; and she made it vocal and well known that she only needed them (and her brother) for company. It is most likely that she is a demon that sees Shinki as her mother, or is treated as a daughter by the demon. But, then again, there was a very human feeling coming from the mysterious girl. "Are you sure that you are not a creation."

"Yes, I'm certain." The girl responded, starting to smile and look more upbeat, though her eyes still had droplets of tears around the eyes. "I was the bun in the oven for a few months... and I came out."

"I think she may be telling the truth." Yuuka responded, the youkai keeping her parasol over her shoulder. "I don't possess the power to tell whenever someone is lying or not, but I can smell something about her, feel something about her power... I think that she could be half-human and half-demon; sort of like a demi-human. She probably is the daughter of this Shinki."

"Yes, that's what I'm telling you. I'm Shinki's daughter." The mysterious girl said.

"Look, I don't care if you are the daughter of Shinki or not, that doesn't matter right now." Marisa said, annoyed of being quiet throughout this odd moment. "If you want to be in our way, you're gonna have to either run away or prepare to get your ass kicked so hard you'll be feelin' it throughout time and space."

The girl looked surprised and even a little scared by what Marisa said, trying to put a confident face on. "N-no. You're attaching Makai for no reason. Please, either stop and leave, or else I will have to defeat you myself!" The girl said, summoning multiple dolls that floated around her; looking a lot like fairies, but with plastic eyes and paper skin. "I am Alice Margatroid, the daughter of Shinki and the princess of Makai. I won't let your attack on my home continue. Suffer my wrath and you will turn into my new dolls!"

 **The Romantic Child**

 **Alice Margatroid**

Alice didn't hesitate to shoot out a large, dense wave of blue danmaku, the attack taking the four by surprise as they barely managed to squeeze between the danmaku. The emotionless dolls that floated around the human-demon hybrid raising their arms and pointing towards them, quickly charging up a red energy that shot out as many tiny lasers, the lasers being a pain to dodge with the dense danmaku.

"Jeez, for a little girl you don't hold back." Marisa commented, the magician smiling excitedly at the other blonde. "I really like your style, kid. Too bad that you're still no match for any of us. Stardust Reverie~!"

Countless star-shaped danmaku shot out of the sky as what looked like a portal to space appeared. Alice, no longer having any emotion on her face - serious and aloof - looked up at the star-shaped danmaku falling down. She flew away, waving her hand, casting a spell. Alice was protected by a sapphire sphere, the Stardust Reverie being ineffective against the shield she was using.

Alice looked right at Marisa with her cold eyes, pointing out an open hand towards the spellcaster protégé. The fairy-like dolls, using their small size and extreme speed to dodge the Stardust Reverie, then looked towards Marisa with plastic eyes, shooting simple white danmaku at the magician.

Marisa grabbed hold of the tip of her broomstick, pouring her magic into the item and flying away from the dolls' danmaku.

"Hey, Eggplant, Flower Power, Mima, do you think you could, oh I don't know, HELP ME?!" Marisa yelled to the others.

Reimu managed to react, the shrine maiden using her link with the Yin-Yang Orb to make it fire holy danmaku at the child, though her shield was still protecting her flawlessly. It was at least enough to grab Alice's attention, the girl glaring at the rest of the group hunting down Shinki specifically. With simple magic, Alice was able to make two dolls fly in front of her and create a net of sorts. Alice didn't waste any time in shooting simple lines of medium-sized white danmaku, the magical bullets creating small danmaku that went every which way as they passed through the net-like item in front of her.

Dodging the danmaku that was being sent right towards her, Mima outstretched an arm towards the little girl, making a small magic circle appear in front of her. The circle quickly began to shoot out jagged danmaku that cut through the air, the bullets also being meaningless against the shield Alice was protecting herself with. Letting out a growl of annoyance, Mima looked at the many dolls that Alice summoned, the dolls were either firing towards Marisa - who was also shooting danmaku at Alice, only for no results to turn up - or firing towards the rest of them. Mima held out her hand in a tight fist, making multiple bright stars appear, the danmaku taking multiple different colours. The stars flew through the air, destroying some of the dolls.

"Oh, you ruined my dollies." Alice commented, her golden eyes widening slightly, though she quickly regained her aloof look. "Oh well, no matter; my magic can repair them, so it's not like it's much of a problem."

As if to prove Alice's point, the dolls began to float back up from the abyss, cotton floating back up into the fairy-like objects and repairing, paper forming back together. Mima glared, shooting lasers at the repairing dolls, destroying them even further.

It seemed like that was enough to get Alice's complete attention, the girl actually looking surprised that someone as infamous as Mima wouldn't let her repair her dolls. Yuuka saw that as an opportunity; and like any good opportunity, it should be taken.

The former Ultimate Sadist Creature closing her parasol and pointing it towards Alice, firing a Master Spark that should be enough to break the shield and defeat the hybrid, though without actually killing or mortally wounding her.

However, as the bright beam of immense magic power shot towards the girl, she flew out of the way, unleashing another burst of blue danmaku, this time aimed directly at Yuuka. The youkai opened her parasol back up, using the item as a shield against the danmaku. Yuuka was filled with confidence, certain that the little girl couldn't land a scratch on her. However, to Yuuka's shame, she forgot about the dolls that Alice was using, getting a painful reminder as multiple dolls shot her in the back at point-blank range.

Yuuka reacted to the surprise pain, being sharp and painful as it was unexpected, due to her forgetfulness. And as she reacted, Yuuka lowered her parasol, the enchanted item no longer able to protect her as Alice made six dolls appear in front of her in a circle formation - all in a perfect sixty degree clockwise angle from each other - pointing their little hands towards the centre between all of them. The dolls were surrounded by a red aura, a red magic circle spinning into existence and growing, surrounding all of the dolls and coming to a stop, all in a handful of seconds.

As Yuuka looked back up towards Alice, the aloof girl shot her arm towards the youkai. A tiny red dot appeared in the centre of the six dolls, the dot growing into a sphere, the sphere shooting towards Yuuka, growing in size as the dolls flew apart while keeping their perfect angle distance.

Still comprehending what just happened as her mind was filled with questions, Yuuka didn't protect herself from the beam of red magic, her clothes, skin and flesh burning off, leaving a floating skeleton that was burnt a charcoal black.

A smile appeared on Alice's face as she kept her emotionless eyes, the smile not showing any sadistic glee or amusement, but purely a satisfaction in the damage she caused to the youkai. However the lines of Alice's mouth began to sink down, back to an impassive line.

"Do not take me for a fool, youkai." Alice said, her dolls floating closer towards her, "I know enough about your species, you're not only alive, but you can also regenerate."

Eyeballs with completely red cornea appeared instantaneously on Yuuka's skeletal body, clothes that were just like hers before she was reduced to such a sight also appearing on her skeleton in an instant. In seconds, flesh and skin regrew on her body; Alice didn't show the faintest sign of fear or disgust.

"My, you're quite smart for someone your age. Mature too~." Yuuka said playfully, making her parasol reappear from nowhere, resting it against her shoulder in a moe fashion. "But you didn't know that you were being snuck up on~."

"Wait, what?!" Alice responded, the little girl losing her mature guise. The little girl looked back, panicked, seeing a giant sphere of a dim light behind her; she was like a bug in comparison.

"You seem pretty apt at magic for someone of your age, don't you?" Mima asked as she floated in front of the dim sphere of ginormous sizes. She spun around her crescent staff around before 'slamming' it against the air, making an echoing sound, snapping her fingers as a confident and smug grin was plastered all over her face. "Then you must be ready for my ultimate spell: Twilight Spark. How's about I give you a closer look at it, huh~?"

A laser shot out of the centre of the sphere, towards Alice. The blonde girl flew out of the way of the laser, or at least tried to. As her dolls were being destroyed by the spell, the laser was growing larger and larger with each second, the growth rate being faster than Alice. The little girl began to panic even more, uncertain if even her shield would be able to protect her.

Unable to think properly with the adrenaline rushing through her hybrid body, Alice poured her magic power into the shield surrounding her, enhancing its effects to protect her even further. She was surrounded by a light that was dim, yet at the same time it was oddly bright, feeling a tremendous force press against the empowered shield as it was hit by the Twilight Spark, the little girl trying to ignore the faint crack sounds that came from all around.

Mima kept her arm pointed out, the deafening sound of her tremendous spell being heard throughout the Capital of Makai, seen by the light it produced, and felt as the laser continued to shoot off into the distance, destroying everything in its path and obliterating buildings.

The spell had came to an end, Mima didn't want to use up all her energy before the inevitable battle with Shiki. As the light dimmed out of existence, she saw the large trail of ground that had been burnt black by the spell, smoke coming out of the burned rock, not a single building remaining. Mima sighed, knowing that it was far from the worst that she has done. And even though she is technically no longer evil, she has already shielded her heart from guilt. There are a few things that Mima actually regrets, but this destructive spell was definitely not among them.

Mima looked at Alice, the girl surrounded by a bigger, stronger version of her shield, covered in cracks from top to bottom; like a glass ball made of tiny pieces stuck together. The young blonde was on her hands and knees inside the shield, the protect spell literally breaking apart as the shield shattered; reduced to nothing but a small pile of glittered snow that fell to the ground leisurely.

Alice was still on her hands and knees as she floated on the air, taking deep breaths as she was seemingly overwhelmed by the immense amount of power she had to use to make her shield take such a beating. Mima doesn't blame her, even she would admit that the strongest spell of someone as infamously powerful as herself would require an exceptional amount of magic to defend oneself against.

"Damn, didn't think you would use that, least not this early." Marisa commented, the magician at the side of her mentor. Marisa shrugged, keeping her fingers tight around her wand. "Oh well, 's got rid of the shield, should make this easier."

"Aren't you concerned that the Twilight Spark could have gotten hit by the Twilight Spark?" Genji asked as he floated by the side of the two magic users.

"Why should I care? They're not really that important." Mima simply responded, the ghost grabbing hold of her crescent staff and pointing it towards the little girl. "But that is beside the point. Shinki's daughter or not, she is far more than she looks, it is best that we defeat her now."

"It really doesn't feel right to beat up an exhausted child, but in times of war like this, you have to put your morality on the bench." Yuuka admitted as she was at the side of the rest of the little team. She definitely didn't look proud of what she was going to do; maybe if Alice had shown the same amount of power and strength that she showed a few minutes ago, she wouldn't feel like a massive bully that hinders on the sadist she used to be, but it is clear that the girl is better off defeated now. Yuuka pointed her parasol towards the child as she was seemingly regaining her energy at a fast rate. A sphere of light appeared on the tip of the parasol, spreading outwards in eight lasers that quickly homed in on Alice.

She was hit, the little girl letting out a pained scream as she was sent shooting through the air from the force of the attack, her small form disappearing into the darkness below.

Yuuka looked at where the girl disappeared, her expression one of uncharacteristic sadness. "I'm never good with children, aren't I?" She whispered with a cracked voice, the youkai turning away. "Let's find this Shinki and end this fiasco once and for all, shall we?"

"Yes, we should." Mima said, not a hint of regret in her voice.

"Damn, over already?" Marisa said, scratching her head. "How anticlimactic. I didn't even get a chance to land a real hit on her."

"Well I would calculate her age to be younger than that of you and Reimu, I'd say by about a year." Mima said, seemingly musing. "I wouldn't be surprised if she was easily defeated, she's probably too young to take on any real attacks."

Dolls were suddenly all around the five, an ensemble of plastic-eyed fairy-like entities, all looking at them like bored spectators holding various weapons in their hands; axes, spears, swords, rapiers, halberds, glaives and virtually every other sort of non-magical weapon imaginable. Some dolls were without any weapons, but considering the dolls Alice had used previously (which were of course included among the hundreds of dolls that now appeared), it wasn't doubted that they could use danmaku.

"The interval is over." Alice said in a dark voice (or at least attempted to with her natural high pitch), flying back up from the darkness, her golden eyes having gained their cold look once again. "It is time to return to your seat and watch the rest of the puppet show. Here, you shall watch as the brave and courageous hero, Alice, defeats the evil invaders for once and for all."

"Your planned script sounds cliché." Marisa said, grinning as she held on tight to her broomstick, ready to shoot across the sky. "I'll change it into something much better and more awesome."

Marisa shot towards Alice, easily dodged the many dolls that flew towards her as they tried to cut or impale her with their weapons, shooting out her signature star-shaped danmaku towards them.

"It is already a perfect ending." Alice responded emotionlessly, outstretching a hand towards the human as a magic circle appeared before her. "You are a human; a villain that can't comprehend to stories of a demon, or even a demi-demon. And you shall be the first villain to fall."

A wave of large danmaku bullets shot out of the magic circle, Marisa even had to slow down so she could make it through the danmaku, especially as she was already trapped inside the claustrophobic trap of dangerous magical bullets.

Dolls appeared outside of the dense wave of danmaku, not wasting any time to shoot danmaku and lasers at Marisa, the girl trying to dodge, though all things considered, she was honestly getting really damaged as she couldn't dodge well with all the danmaku coming at all angles.

The dolls were suddenly destroyed as they were hit by white danmaku. Alice looked at the person responsible for the danmaku in annoyance, seeing Reimu flying towards her on top of Genji. The shrine maiden was in front of the demon, swinging her gohei at Alice, only for her to dodge it, even if by only a hair's length.

"I must admit, I am impressed that you recovered so quickly from that attack." Reimu said as she still tried to hit the other little girl with her holy wand.

"That is the demon part of me, obviously." Alice responded, not a hint of pride in her voice as she kept avoiding the swings Reimu sent her way, keeping her emotionless mask. "Even demon children are stronger than an adult human, being capable of taking far more pain and damage and overall being able to heal faster. My mummy is a super powerful demon, so she is even stronger than most over demons, even demons that are considered to be exceptionally powerful. Thus I am even stronger than the regular demon child, even though I am half a demon."

"That sounds interesting, but that information is as useless as discarded trash." Reimu said as she suddenly grabbed hold of Alice's arm, the hybrid widening her eyes at the surprise action. Reimu aimed her gohei straight at Alice's head, the half-human/half-demon unable to avoid the stick. "I am the shrine maiden of the Hakurei shrine, it is my job to exterminate demons! It doesn't matter if you are an exceptionally powerful demon, or if you are a human-demon hybrid of a powerful demon, I will defeat you!"

Reimu hit Alice square in the temple with her gohei, the hybrid letting out a squeak of pain as her head tilted. However, to the shrine maiden's surprise, that was all that happened.

Alice looked at Reimu, a smirk on her soft face. "You're expecting my skin to burn upon contact with the holy power of your gohei, aren't you?" She said, suddenly flying out of Reimu's grasp. Dolls appeared around Reimu and Genji, the group whacking them with comically-sized mallets. "That is the human part of me. Being a hybrid of humans and demons is a very interesting thing, really; the demon part of me protects me from my human limitations, the human part of me protects me from my demon weaknesses."

"If that is so, then I don't feel guilty about attacking you anymore." Yuuka said as she appeared behind Alice, the little girl regaining her impassive face as she looked back at the ancient youkai. "It's quite clear that you're far more powerful than you look, and that you can easily survive what I send your way, so I no longer have to be kind and hold back against you."

"You'll become nothing more than a puppet before long." Alice responded coolly as she stretched out an arm towards the non-human, commanding her dolls to attack her; the result being a battalion of dolls that wielded lances and rapiers, aiming their sharp weapons right at Yuuka. "With the pieces that remain of you, you'll just be another toy. I'll add you to my collection and occasionally play with you, your existence will be reduced to a toy."

"You wouldn't be so certain if you knew who you were talking to." Yuuka responded calmly, putting her index finger in front of one of the lances that were coming right towards her. A wave of force was let out upon the contact, though it was still enough to cause all of the dolls to be blown back with their weapons falling out of their hands; this included the dolls that were not far behind, walloping Reimu and Genji.

"What?" Alice responded, confused and surprised that the youkai could do that.

"Don't say that I didn't warn you~." Yuuka said. Four giant flowers shot out of the ground, their petals in a position that was exactly like a rose, but they were purple in colour, their thick and long stems being covered in giant spikes for thorns. The petals started to stretch outwards, revealing sharp teeth like that of a monsters, the flowers even had tongues (or an appendage that looked and acted like a tongue), licking the petals around the mouths like lips as drool exited their maws. Alice looked around in fear at the giant plants; even someone who has lived in a demon dimension for all her life, having been told many stories by demons, had never seen anything like this before. Yuuka causally tapped the little girl on the back, causing her to look back at the green-haired woman in fear, even as she kept a sweet and welcoming face on. "Be sure to play nice with them, they're just seedlings."

One of the plants shot towards Alice, the rose of its head stretching out further, showing a circle of the same sharp teeth as it was presumably aiming to eat her, if not outright swallow her whole. Alice flew out of the way, using her magic to command the dolls to attack the flowers as they attempted to eat her. The fairy-like entities of plastic, cotton and paper attacked like their mistress commanded, only for most of the weapons to break upon contact with the thick and powerful stalks of the monstrous flowers.

Alice glared at the flowers as they continued to fly towards her, firing her medium-sized blue danmaku at the flowers, only for the plants to pass through the magic bullets, unharmed by the bullets. They just simply kept their mouths as widely open as possible as they mindlessly tried to swallow the human-demon hybrid.

Alice made two dolls in front of her moving form, making them create a net in front of her. Alice put her hands together and fired a line of white danmaku at the plants, hoping that the net would empower them, as well as the extra danmaku from the net would also damage the man-eating plants.

The danmaku was proven to be as ineffective as before, the danmaku merely sparking out of existence upon contact with the flowers.

Alice scrunched her face in a frown, trying to come up with another way to defeat the seemingly indestructible flowers that the youkai summoned. The blonde then felt a shadow over her, a large presence trying to sneak up on her as she was facing away.

It was a no-brainer what it was, Alice flew out of the way as her two dolls were crushed between the teeth of the flower and swallowed. Alice looked back at the flower as it quickly continued its chase after her, looking back to see a vast opening of sharp teeth. Alice skidded to a stop, flying out of the way as the petals closed in an instant, escaping by the skin of her teeth.

The flower that was following after Alice was still flying towards her hungrily, the other flower that just attempted to eat the human-demon hybrid also aiming at her.

Alice flew out of the way, the second flower biting into the spiked-covered stem of the first flower; like a predatory animal biting into the neck of another of the same species, all for the sake of a meal. To prove the point even further, there was a green liquid seeping out through the tiny spaces between the teeth, like blood, of course.

Alice widened her eyes, not in horror, but realisation, a smile appearing on her face as she figured a way through the flowers' impervious skin. The flower that bit into the other one simply let go, not caring that the other plant fell down to the ground; absolutely lifeless.

Meanwhile, as Alice was baiting the rest of the three flowers to bite each other to make them kill each other instead of hurting her, the humans and non-humans were watching.

"She's a really odd person, and that's something when it comes from the mouth who everyone calls odd." Marisa commented as she watched.

"Well, you can be weird sometimes." Reimu commented.

"She seems to change her personality, don't you think?" Marisa asked of the others, seemingly ignoring her friend's comment; she did hear it clearly, especially as they were next to each other, she just didn't feel offended by it anyways, so why bring it up? "From what I've seen before, she seems like a regular human child, but when she started fighting, she was suddenly acting like an adult."

"That is the human and demon parts of her respectively." Mima commented, the spirit honestly enjoying the sight of the little scuffle between Alice and the flowers, even as the hybrid managed to get another flower to bite into another and kill it. "You and Reimu are rather mature for your ages, but Alice isn't, at least the human side of her, so that's why she was crying, and acting like that."

"Meanwhile, higher level demons mature quickly." Yuuka continued for the ghost, not quite happy about what Alice was making her seedlings do to each other, but she kept her rage under control. "It seems the battle awakened that side, so now she is like this. Though, like child higher demons, she still does have a bit of a childish tendency to her."

"Human-demon hybrids are weird." Marisa commented.

"Some places consider it to be a taboo for humans and non-humans to procreate, or even just mate." Genji commented. "There is a bit of a reason for that."

Alice was between two flowers that shot towards her with their mouths wide open, ready to bite down and eat her. She used the last second to fly away, letting the two creatures bite each other, their teeth sinking in and killing each other.

Alice let out a sigh of relief. "What a horrible experience." The hybrid mumbled as she slumped her shoulders while staying afloat in the air. She stood upright as the pair of Gensokians were prepared to fight once again, the girl calling over her army of weapon-wielding and magic-wielding dolls, pointing a finger at them as she glared with cold, golden eyes. "I originally snuck out to get Mummy a present, but I guess she'll be happy if I bring you to her."

"Alright, alright, alright." Marisa said excitedly, a large grin on her face. "Just take us to her and we can kick her ass even quicker."

Alice narrowed her glare as she focussed more on the human magician, the dolls around her moving forward slightly. "I don't plan on bringing you to her alive." She said darkly. "You humans will be buried beneath the ground, and you non-humans will be sealed in diamonds for the rest of eternity."

"Oh, a fate worse than death, huh? That's a little funny to fall upon a ghost." Mima jested, waving her wand and making many knife-shaped danmaku appear around her. "I wouldn't put it past Shinki to be able to do something like that, but you're still a little girl."

"If we are stating the obvious, then I'll state that you all will lose soon." Alice said as she swing her arm, commanding all the dolls to fly right towards them; the army charging forth to attack. "You all attacked Makai, so you will pay."

"Don't kid yourself." Mima said as she pointed towards the army, her knife danmaku moving out in every which way, breaking and cutting the dolls into pieces. "Children with dolls shouldn't play with adults."

"And humans shouldn't fight with demons." Alice responded, still kept secure behind her sapphire shield. It seemed as though repairing all the dolls didn't require that much power, as Alice didn't look like she was growing even the slightest bit exhausted from making them rapair. Then again, she could simply have immense energy; energy and power are not one and the same, after all.

"Ah, but you are still a child." Mima said as the knives continued to fly around, turning into a huricane of sharp danmaku that shredded any dolls of Alice's. "This way appear unfair, but that is exactly what it is. I am unapologetic as a cheater, even when against little children. It's time for you to nap, Cranky Pants."

"Don't patronise me with that nickname." Alice responded calmly as she floated within the magical whirlwind, making multiple magic circles appear around her, "I might not be as powerful as Mummy, especially without my grimoire, but I still have a few spells up my sleeve, even without my dolls."

The magic circles shot out danmaku, the large waves of magical bullets, aimed for the four attackers. They split off, flying different angles away, trying to make it harder for the little girl to hit them. Alice stamped her foot against the ground, trying to call over the pieces of her dolls and repair them from within the little tornado of knives, but they sharp danmaku would just keep cutting the pieces of the dolls whenever they started to come close to resembling their original selves in the slightest.

Reimu used a Fantasy Seal, the summoned yin-yang banging against the shield that Alice had casted once again. The blonde merely decided to focus on her, turning around to face the shrine maiden. But the instant the hybrid put her attention on the purple-haired girl, her shield was then hit by a bright light, causing her to look to see that it was sent by Yuuka. There was suddenly a sound like a really hard, loud knock against a door, the golden-eyed girl looking to see Marisa pelting her shield with a Orreries System.

"Stand still, all of you!" Alice growled, trying to land a hit on any of the females attacking her, but whenever she focussed on one of them, one of the others would attack her and change her focus. It didn't help that they were all making sure to keep themselves away from each other.

Luckily for Alice, though, she had her shield to protect her, but she knew it had its limits, especially as it is fuelled by her.

"I really wish I had my grimoire with me." Alice complained, sniffling a bit as the human side of her was starting to shine to light. "They would really start to regret messing with me if they saw what my true magical power was like, with the spells of the Ultimate Magic."

There was a loud knocking sound from above Alice, the girl looking up to see that Mima had swung the moon of her staff hard on the shield. With the state it was already in, slowly breaking and cracking from all the abuse it could take, the shield was broken once again.

"Seriously?! You broke my shield again?" Alice yelled indignantly.

Mima didn't respond to the hybrid, merely hitting her across the face with the same part of her staff. Alice was sent flying through the air, the demon side of her managing to take control and make her stop, though the human side quickly came back with overwhelming emotions.

"Heyyyy…!" Alice yelled with tears in her eyes as she rubbed the red spot on her cheek, the redness a side effect of the crescent hitting her in the exact area. "That was so mean!"

Alice was hit in the back by multiple stars, the little girl looking back to see Marisa, the obvious caster of the spell. Alice made a star of her own appear in front of her, charging it to be a powerful attack to hit the magician with, but before she could do that more magical bullets hit her in the back again. The star shot off as Alice lost her concentration, moving off in a random area as it was not properly aimed. Alice could only glare at Yuuka, the youkai having a smile across the face in amusement from the anger on the human-demon hybrid's face.

"Stop hitting me in the back, please!" Alice yelled, flailing her arms up and down as her hands were closed in fists. "First you attack and destroy everything and hurt everyone, and now you just pick on a little girl?! You're not only evil, but you're really mean!"

"You're the one that proudly talked about how demons are superior to humans, so even as a little girl you should be able to take this." Yuuka responded. "I'll let the shrine maiden have the last hit."

"Huh~?" Alice said, surrounded by the same glowing orbs from earlier in seconds. She widened her eyes, not even getting the chance to think of escape as the Fantasy Seal closed around her, creating a large explosion, with a boom that could be heard from miles away.

"Do you think that's the end of it?" Reimu asked, the shrine maiden appear next to the others as they regrouped, the purple-haired girl still riding on top of Genji.

"I have seen what a Fantasy Seal can do as close as possible many, many times throughout the centuries that I've tried to wipe away the Hakurei family and gain their powers." Mima said, looking at the cloud of smoke created from Reimu's holy attack. "If holy energy is like acid, lava and antimatter to you or not, that attack hurts like hell."

"It is the signature attack of our shrine maidens." Genji said, sighing. "Even though I am not proud of attacking someone who is so young and part human, it seems necessary with what is at stake."

"Indeed." Mima agreed, the ghost casually turning towards a giant castle in the distance, pointing at it. "Pandemonium is a few more miles up north, if we get there then we are bound to meet Shinki. It doesn't matter what we do, I'm certain that we will inevitably find her there."

"A good, then this can be over soon." Yuuka responded casually with a smile, though her face soon changed as she began to think about who they just fought. "Though I must wonder, why would this Demon Goddess have a half-human, half-demon for a child. Didn't you say that humans and non-humans can't make love, Mr Genji?"

"I didn't say it like that...!" Genji responded with a prude blush, "But yes, that is the way. Of course though in worlds where magic doesn't exist, that law also obviously doesn't exist. My best guess is that Shinki ultimately found a human that she... did you know what with, and thus the child we just fought was born."

"I never really heard of a hybrid between humans and non-humans." Reimu said, the shrine maiden soon glaring at the demon carrying her. "Why didn't you tell me something like this?"

"Like I said, they're rare." Genji responded as Reimu began to lightly hit him with her gohei. "The only real case in Gensokyo is a half-kappa that has been sealed away in Former Hell for a really long time."

The conversation ended as a cry came from the cloud of smoke, clearing to reveal Alice, her clothes all ruined as she was covered by bruises. As she floated in the air, she was sitting on her knees, bawling in her hands, sniffling uncontrollably in feeble attempts to calm her emotions.

"W-why? Why are you all so mean?" Alice asked, her voice cracking up as she looked up at the humans and non-humans with her tear-stained eyes. "Everyone was just being happy, then out of nowhere you all just attack. You... you blow up our buildings and beat everyone up when we just want to stop you. A-and now you want to go and beat up Mummy... Why?"

Alice didn't let anyone answer, flying away, crying endlessly, her voice fading away as she went flying, fading into a small dot that vanished.

Reimu was left still, and quite frankly she didn't know why. She had already fought against youkai and humans that got in her way, and Marisa was enough to prove that she would battle other children if she needed to. So why is it different that a child that is half a demon - one that even threatened to kill her - has gotten her to suddenly stop?

Was it because of the crying? The fact that she is younger than her (presumably)?

Gensokyo is in danger from the toxic air of Makai and the demons' tendency to just cause a lot of chaos, that is something that she saw for herself; it didn't even matter that some of the friends that she had made decided to come with her, she knew that as a Hakurei shrine maiden she would still go to Makai to make Shinki stop whatever she is doing.

Reimu's thoughts were becoming like branches on a tree. splitting into different thoughts as the subject of anything occurred to her. Was Alice even aware of what Shinki was doing? Did she even know that the ruler of Makai was endangering Gensokyo, and that they were doing what was needed to save their home (well, home for most of them). Okay, so maybe the destruction of their buildings is a little gratuitous, but Reimu already knew enough that the demons of Makai are okay with making things just to destroy it. And didn't Shinki create this entire dimension and everything within by herself? What exactly is Shinki even doing? Is she even aware of what she is doing to Gensokyo?

"Hey, Reimu, is somethin' wrong?" Marisa asked, the magician flying right beside her. Reimu was snapped back into reality, noticing that they were all flying towards Pandemonium. Of course, she is riding on Genji, so she wouldn't know. Reimu looked at the magus by her side, startled by the genuine concern in Marisa's eyes. It seemed as though even Genji was too concerned with stopping the danger that Shinki was putting Gensokyo in, he couldn't even notice that Reimu was lost in her thoughts. "Seriously, you look kinda like you have doubt."

"...This is not the time or place to talk about any of that." Reimu said, looking back forward and trying to stop the countless thoughts that kept on entering her head.

"Oh, so you four are the Gensokians?" An apathetic voice asked, causing everyone to stop their flight. In front of them was a Makai demon, looking like...

"Louise?" Reimu said, surprised to see the demon in front of her...

"No, it's her sister: Luana." Mima responded, the ghost having already gotten over the surprise. Reimu took a closer look at the demon in front of her; she _did_ look a lot like Louise, having the exact same clothes and hairstyle... Except her hair was as dark blue as the ocean, and she had red eyes that looked as apathetic as the voice sounded. She also had an aura a lot like a ghost around her. "I repeat, ironic name."

 **Gloomy Sunshine**

 **Luana**

"I do not take enjoyment in life; it is all meaningless as even the eternal will one day reach an end." Luana said, keeping her voice as dull as before.

"Well aren't you the straw nihilist." Marisa commented, pointing her wand at the demon. "You know the old sayin', move your ass or you bet blast~!"

"Very well." Luana said, closing her eyes as she kept her emotionless look. "You may pass."

"Hah, knew you were gonna- wait, what?" Marisa responded, the magician and the rest of the four flying to stop Shinki surprised that Luana was simply passing them, not showing the slightest interest in fighting. "That's... new. Usually whenever we fly into someone, we end up fighting them."

"I have now interest or point in this fight; I cannot win against any of you alone, so why should I fight all four of you at once." Luana responded simply, continuing to fly away without looking back. "I should go and find Lady Alice, Lady Shinki is worrying over her daughter's disappearance. And after what you did, she's probably a little lost in the wreckage of our city."

"Huh... I was certain that she was going to fight us, but she had the common sense to not battle against people on a different level." Yuuka commented as Luana floated further and further away. "I will admit, that is new."

"Tell me about it." Reimu said.

"Before I leave, I should probably give you all important information." Luana said, appearing right in front of them once again. She looked somewhat serious, though she still lacked an interest in something as meaningless as a battle she had no chance. "Just remember that you had hurt Lady Alice and made her cry. Shinki and Yumeko will find out before they fight you, and they won't offer you mercy. You may get their forgiveness when this is over, but you'll have to gain Lady Alice's forgiveness first. Don't be overconfident when you face either of them, they give their all against all of you."

And with that, Luana once again floated away and disappeared.

"Well... that happened." Mima said, the ghost letting out a sigh. "Pandemonium is still up a head, we should get there quicker, and fast."

Mima, Yuuka, Marisa and Genji (with Reimu on his shell) continued their flight, moving at faster speeds than before as they shot towards Pandemonium...

Unaware that they are being watched.

* * *

"Heh, so they're meant to be the ones in charge all of this, eh?" A blonde demon said as she watched the oncoming quartet through some binoculars that were enchanted to see many miles away, with them even able to be adjusted in case she wants to look closer or further away. She had short yellow hair and yellow eyes, wearing a red hat with a white ribbon and a red and white dress, the red on both the hat and dress being so dark it would be easily mistaken for black. She lowered the binoculars and looked at her teammate, "They'll never see us coming, don't you think, Mai?"

'Mai' is a Makai demon with short light-blue hair and eyes that were very slightly darker, having a bow in her hair and a dress on her body that were a very light pink. She also had large demon wings that sprouted out from her back, being the same light shade of pink as her bow and dress.

She was silent, keeping her face blank as she and her friend waited for them in a small area in front of Pandemonium, a field that was completely frozen with pillars and other large structures made completely of ice that is nigh impossible to thaw.

"Ah...!" The blonde demon said, knowing her friend wasn't ready to make a response, waving her arm dismissively, "It doesn't even matter. I know we're going show them hell before Yumeko gets the chance to end them all. You don't need to say anything if you don't want to, because I, your amazing friend Yuki, will do the talking while we both do the fighting."

Mai was still silent, Yuki just looked back through her binoculars, towards the oncoming four that were unaware of what was going to happen to them, unaware of the light glare her 'friend' was giving her.

* * *

 **And so this marks the end of this chapter, and as said before the next will focus more on the other characters that I put in, just remember that the things going on with them is meant to go on at the same time as the main characters head closer towards Pandemonium.**

 **It might have been a little out of character for Alice to have been crying a lot at the beginning, but that is the human side of her, who was just enjoying a regular day in her home (Makai) before all of a sudden a bunch of magical humans and youkai from another dimension attack and ruin everything... trying to explain the plot of the arc from her perspective. Of course, this is meant to contain a big battle between Alice and the main four, so I decided that, since this version of her is technically a hybrid between humans and demons (until she turns into a youkai later on in the Windows era), I decided that she has what is sort of like a split personality, at least until she gets older and they basically merge as the human side of her matures.**

 **Wow, I'm pretty sure that what I just wrote was incomprehensible.**

 **Nevertheless, the original idea for the battle was to be based on her real boss battle, with some changes like a shield and more dolls. A part of the thought was for her to not get hit that much, since I kinda doubted she could last long against powerhouses like the main four, so there were shields and dodging involved.**

 **I also put in something similar to close combat, because it can be a little boring to write 'X shot this, but Y dodged that', but I kinda have to limit it because Reimu still can't fly on her ownsome and has to ride Genji. Hopefully I will be able to write more scenes with real combat later on when Reimu can fly by herself.**

 **I also decided to put in a little of a cliffhanger (?) to show Yuki and Mai waiting for them, though that won't appear in the next chapter, because of reasons that are already obvious.**

 **My little idea is for Yuki to be the more talkative of the two while Mai is rather silent and doesn't speak much... until more of her true colours show. I also know that Mai is usually portrayed with small, feathery wings, but apparently if you beat Yuki first in the original game, she gains the demon wings as described above. I went with the demon wings 'cause I like the idea of white demon wings, for some reason.**

 **I dunno, just weird.**

 **Also I just realised that we have two official characters in Touhou named 'Mai'.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	40. Trouble in a World of Demons

Makai, a demonic realm. Feared by humans many years ago, even a few youkai wouldn't go near there.

Known for its demons being particularly dangerous and quick to hurt others for entertainment, and for the toxic particles in the air that can kill any unprotected human. Some even hated it so much that they would seal away youkai and humans that would practise in the evil arts in there, forever.

Even when Gensokyo was created, people still didn't like the thought of the dimension. It was a very unknown fact that a portal to the demon dimension was located behind the shrine, in a cave, protected by the only demon of Makai that was actively outside of Shinki's realm.

As the capital stood high for many years, eternal and undamaged as the demons of the realm would only vent out their energy and desire for destruction on the small settlements they made outside of the capital.

And now here it was, almost half of the buildings of the mighty capital that surrounded Shinki's palace being left as nothing but a pile of rubble as humans and non-humans from Gensokyo had attacked, trying to stop them from entering their own home dimension.

And it was tearing Alice apart from the inside.

She had lowered to the ground and was sitting on her knees, crying into her hands again. She needed to get away from them, they were too mean and too powerful. Maybe if she had her grimoire by her side, then she would have won. Yeah, with all her spells available and her full power at her fingertips, they would have stood no chance against her magic.

Alice's crying died down to an uneven, uncontrollable bout of hiccups that kept on until she finally stopped them for once and for all. Her demon side, the part of her that is much more mature than she usually is, began to take control. She got back on her feet and dusted the dirt off her damaged skirt, looking up at Pandemonium; undamaged and staying impressively massive, viewable as many tall buildings that would have blocked it were broken during the attack. She has to get back home before those monsters do, find her grimoire and open, unleash her true magic and stop them.

Alice ran as fast as her little feet could carry her, the hybrid hoping that she wouldn't come across one of the Gensokians; she flew too far away from her dolls, now their out of her scope of magic, she can't control or repair them. Besides, she's too exhausted to use magic, so she'll just have to run and run and run until she gets there.

Luckily, the many walks that she took with Mummy were enough for her to know her way through Makai.

And even if she were to come across rubble, she would find her way around it.

Alice ran and ran, stopping as she came across multiple demons that were heavily beaten, lying on the ground with wounds all over their bodies. It was obvious that who or whatever was behind these had hit them so much that they lost all their energy, maybe they even destroyed them a few times. She couldn't help but gasp at the sight; many demons of Makai had rowdy battles with each other many times in the past, but they would never beat each other up to the point where it is like this. At least when in front of her.

A giant eyeball demon that was completely black with two small horns on the top of its head pushing itself up slightly with its demon wings, looking at the human-demon hybrid with its emerald green eyes. " _L... Lady Alice._ " The demon said in a voice that sounded completely unnatural to any demon that would hear it, but not to a half-demon hybrid like Alice. " _Sh-shouldn't you be safe in Pandemonium? Humans and youkai from Gensokyo are attacking, you'll give Lady Shinki a heart attack...!_ "

"I... I'm sorry." Alice said, the girl dropping to her knees and bawling into her eyes once again. "I-I just wanted to g-get Mummy a present, to sh-show her that I appreciate her. B-but then the Gensokians attacked a-and I tried to get back home, but th-then some started to fly there, and I wanted to stop them. I-I tried, but they were all too strong. I couldn't b-beat them, and they all talked about how they wanted to hurt Mummy, and n-no matter what I did, they just kept fighting, s-so I ran away, and n-now I'm even further from where Mummy is...!"

Alice lost her voice as she just sunk into crying, unable to control herself anymore. She shouldn't have gotten to get a gift for Mummy, she should have just decided that she would do it tomorrow, but then they attacked. She should have just continued to fly towards Pandemonium without fighting them, she should have just made their dolls distract them. Even after they beat her, she should have ran away crying to Pandemonium, other demons could have stopped them from catching her, maybe Yumeko would appear out of nowhere like she always does and takes her somewhere safe.

Th-then... she get her grimoire! She knows that Mummy sealed most of her powers in it, because she's still too young, with her demon side and human side not fully converged. She knows what her exposure to possessing Ultimate Magic does to her mind, but she would still have the right power.

She would drag those five horrible monsters into her Wonderland, make them play with her, and then...

Chop! Chop! Chop! Of with their heads!

She would take all of the Gensokians to her Wonderland, where she is Alice, and The Queen of Hearts, and The Cheshire Cat, and everyone else who's head doesn't get chopped off in her own version of the story.

Then Makai would be saved, everyone she loves would be happy, and Mummy and Yumeko and Uncle Sariel would be so proud of her; there would be a giant party where everyone can play games and eat cake; it would be absolutely wonderful...!

…But that won't happen, because she's an idiot; an overconfident idiot!

Now Mummy is just going to be worried even more as she goes on for longer and longer without knowing where she is. The stress and worry will consume her, and she'll be an easy target for those monsters. Makai will fall and everyone will become slaves to the Gensokians...

And it will _all_ be her fault!

"There, there, no one wants to see someone as cute and happy as you cry." A soft voice said as she felt a soft pat on the head. Alice opened her eyes and wiped away her tears, seeing a humanoid demon giving her a comforting smile. She had eyes and hair that were a blue as dark as the ocean (or at least what Alice saw of it in pictures), her long hair almost touching the ground as she sat on her knees, wearing a maid outfit with a long skirt. She was covered in multiple tiny cuts, and have bruises covering her otherwise perfect skin. "Lady Shinki will make sure that they all face her wrath, they don't stand a chance against a being of her calibre. And I know she will forgive you, especially after she finds out why you disappeared."

Alice was suddenly surrounded by many demons of Makai, the creatures, varying from appearances that were humanoid, the like that of ones that looked like animals, to the complete abnormal, all trying the best they could to comfort her.

Though Alice did know that they all had to drag themselves to her, or at least limp, all covered in many wounds, the most common being a series of small cuts that were perfectly straight, usually in a grid-like pattern.

Alice frowned at the sight of the many demons, all that she has grown up knowing (though they were still a mere fraction of Makai's true demon population), being covered in those marks, the same being all over the destroyed part of the Makai capital, albeit there were less of those lines, and they were much larger.

"How did all this happen?" Alice asked. "Who did this."

"Believe it or not, it was a human." A gruff and deep male voice said. Alice looked towards the demon responsible for the voice, seeing a spherical demon with orange skin, two long claws on both of his feet, three-finger hands with long claws, and five eyes that were completely orange like his skin, almost making them hard to notice. "She was a samurai, I think. We thought that she was going to be easy, especially as humans get tired quickly - n-not that you get tired quickly, despite being half-human, L-Lady Alice."

"Go on." Alice said.

"Ah yes, anyways..." The gruff-voiced demon continued. "She was really fast and kept cuttin' us into tiny pieces. She also kept on stopping to yell about tempura, for some reason."

"We should just stay here." Said a demon that had a small body like that of a child, looking like a fairy as she had hair that was coloured like autumn leaves, green eyes like fresh grass and a yellow dress (once again, Alice guessed these nature-related colours from what she's seen in pictures). "Lady Shinki will erase them in an instant, and when it's all over, we'll all be safe, and we will rebuild."

"Yes, stay with us, Lady Alice." A demon like a giant great horned owl cooed, the damaged the supernatural creature softly stroking Alice's head with a wing. "We will keep you safe until Lady Shinki finds us."

"We will all be fine." The demon with ocean blue hair and eyes said.

Alice suddenly pushed away all the other demons, the hybrid having a rather angry look on her face. "No." She said, causing all of the other Makai demons to look at her in surprise. "I won't wait around. I'm going to return to Pandemonium and open my grimoire, and then Mummy and I will stop them forever, they'll spend the rest of eternity in my Wonderland, their minds will be completely lost."

"Y-your grimoire? The Ultimate Magic?!" Another fairy-like demon asked fearfully, having brown hair with a red bow in it and brown eyes, wearing a simple blue dress. "Do you remember what happened when...?!"

"I know." Alice responded, keeping her serious, if slightly angry, expression. "But I don't care, I'm helping Mummy."

Alice ran away, the demons unable to stop her as they were still too weakened to chase after her, the girl disappearing behind the corner of a building. The demons just remained huddled together, hoping that they won't be attacked further by Gensokians, that Lady Shinki would stop those evil people, and that Alice would not get hurt further.

But above all, they hoped that Alice wouldn't open and regain her Ultimate Magic again.

* * *

"There, that should be the last of them." Elly said as she grabbed her scythe, having swung it around like a boomerang for the gazillionth time, looking at the demons... or what remained of them, being in two dead pieces and disintegrating into a pure mist.

"Thank all the gods." Kurumi breathed, the bat youkai falling down onto her butt, sitting on the ground as her feet felt like she just walked a mile barefoot on a pile of stone while carrying a large and heavy weight. The blonde youkai had her hands on the ground as she leaned back slightly, keeping herself sat up. "There were so many of them, I actually thought that we could have lost. Imagine how Yuuka would react."

"Don't forget that we're immortal, you're a demon so you can come back as long as your mind exists... or if a human or other youkai or god uses some special method to permanently kill you." Elly said, the shinigami sitting down next to her friend. "And I am a death god, killing us isn't exactly a walk in the park either."

"Yeah, you make a strong point there." Kurumi responded, leaning her head back with a sigh. "I hope Yuuka is okay, I know she's prone to creating crazy and dangerous 'games' for her entertainment, but this is a Demon Goddess that she's fighting. And considering the fact that she created this dimension itself, and all the demons within it, she's most likely going to be real difficult for Yuuka to face, even though Yuuka is as powerful as she is, even with the help of someone as powerful as Mima and those two humans."

"Well who knows, maybe she created this dimension and the demons on different days. And even with the demons themselves, they weren't all made in one day." Elly replied, the shinigami turning her head and smiling at her youkai friend as the bat looked at her. "There, does that calm you?"

"Yeah, I guess it does." Kurumi responded, the bat youkai standing up. "Come on, we should probably find the others; we're most likely not the only ones that are tired."

"You're right, Kurumi." Elly said, the shinigami changing the shape of her scythe (also for the gazilionth time), making it becoming the regular shape of a scythe, using it to push herself up. "If we're lucky, then Yuuka and the others should already be up against this Shinki and on their way to victory."

"Yeah, let's go." Kurumi said as she and Elly held hands, the two non-humans walking off and hoping to find some of the other Gensokians in this little war...

…Kurumi was suddenly hit in the back of the head by a powerful force, the youkai sent flying head first into a building (one that was completely fine... was), landing on rubble and letting some more rubble fall on her. The golden-eyed female could only continue to lay on the rubble beneath her and blink, trying to comprehend what just happened. She was a great, throbbing pain in both the back of her head (where she was hit) and on her right temple, a trickle of blood spilling out from the wound made by... who knows what.

She had a feeling of light-headedness, her eyes struggling to stay open as the world in front of them was beginning to turn distorted. It seemed like she was hit by great force, and the damage done to her head, along with her low energy, is causing her to fall into unconsciousness.

The last thing that Kurumi saw before she lost all consciousness was Elly flying into a building next to her, a glaring demon with short hair that was an unnaturally light shade of purple, wearing a red dress and standing right on top of the shinigami. Elly managed to get the demon off of her, the same demon evading the swings of the scythe Elly was trying to hit her with.

And then she fell into a slumber...

* * *

Alice was running, the little girl panting as she could her body grow tired from all the energy she has spent up, but she didn't let herself stop, even for a second; she would keep on running as much as necessary, even if her feet would start to fall off, she would keep running.

Alice passed by many demons that seemed like they were in pain, to much pain to move or even notice the world around them, only lying down in a fetal position (if possible for them) and groan endlessly, like with each whimper of pain it would go away piece by piece.

She didn't stop for them either, it was not because of apathy or simply not liking them, but she must do all she can to get to Pandemonium as fast as possible; the more time she wastes, the closer and closer those evil Gensokians get to hurting Mummy.

Alice turned a corner, the girl skidding to a halt, unable to stop the gasp within her.

There was a Gensokian, a tall woman with red hair tied up in a red bow, wearing a purple dress and having a purple aura come from her. She was standing atop a pile of Makaians, all groaning in excruciating pain that left them unable to do anything else. She had multiple black orbs surrounding her, firing them towards the demons that weren't on the ground in pain. Some managed to dodge the black orbs, but others weren't so lucky, instantly falling to the ground as every last part of their beings was filled with absolute pain.

"Run as fast as you wish, it's fun to watch you all act in a hopeless endeavour." Noroiko said, avoiding the danmaku that the demons sent towards her, flying out of the way whenever some with long, sharp claws would try to slash her with them. The curse youkai, still flying out of the way and creating more orbs of pure curse energy and firing them towards the Makai demons, then began to notice Alice. "Oh my, a little girl? How odd. Certainly, she is a demon, but how old she is wouldn't save her from me."

The last remaining demons took notice of Alice, their diverted attention being enough for the curse demon to attack them with her orbs.

"Oh no..." Alice gasped as she clasped her hand over her mouth, stepping back.

Noroiko grinned widely at Alice, the youkai slowly walking towards the human-demon hybrid. The red-haired raised a hand and made a curse orb appear above her palm. "Now then, what curse shall I give you~?" Noroiko asked as she stalked closer and closer to Alice, the girl walking backwards as she was trying to get away from the youkai, but it didn't change that the curse wielder was still coming closer. "I think the regular curse of pain will be marvellous~ But how much? Do I give you enough to barely make you able to walk, or do I just give you the regular dose~? You are already beat up, but I am unapologetically cruel."

"I am afraid that you cannot hurt the child, so you will instead be facing me." An apathetic voice said as a woman appeared. She had a lock of hair in front of one of her eyes, dark blue hair and red eyes, wearing a dress and a hat with a ribbon. "I am a stronger demon than the ones you just defeated, sadist. I will be your opponent, and I won't fall easily."

"Luana...!" Alice said happily.

Luana looked back at the blonde. "You should get out of here." The demon said, a faint trace of concern within the dull monotone of her usual, gloomy voice. "It is safer at Pandemonium, you should just go to your room and hide safely under your bed. Your mother, and our creator, will get rid of all these Gensokians."

"I know... I'm trying to find my way to Pandemonium right now." Alice responded, the hybrid deciding to keep it a secret about her plans of using her grimoire. Luana suddenly wrapped an arm around Alice's small body before flying them both in the air, just before either of them were touched by a black orb, the sphere breaking into little, black pieces of matter as it touched the ground.

"Don't forget that I'm here." Noroiko said, casting out a hand and making yet another curse orb appear. "And don't be so confident in the strength of your goddess, the four we sent to fight her personally are really strong."

"Alice, find a way back to Pandemonium." Luana said simply as she put the girl back on the ground, her dull red eyes narrowing slightly in annoyance. "Meanwhile, I will teach this youkai a lesson about insulting us Makai demons."

Alice didn't protest or wait, the human-demon hybrid running the other way from the battle, towards the large and beautiful castle at the front.

"Oh well, guess someone else will just have to deal with the brat." Noroiko said as Alice began to disappear in the distance, the youkai waving her hand dismissively. A cruel smile then stretched across the youkai's face. "Now then, let's see how quickly you succumb to my curse of paralyzing pain~!"

Noroiko made multiple curse orbs appear and sent them all flying at Luana, the Makai demon avoiding all of them, even if just barely for a few.

"Tell me, are all you Gensokians this sadistic." The gloomy demon asked as she floated in front of the curse youkai.

"Nope~." Noroiko responded, making more orbs of pure curse power appear. "I'm just one of the tiny handful of people in Gensokyo that are sadists."

"I see." Luana responded, the demon making a large magic circle of light blue colour surround her, the circle shooting danmaku and lasers of the same colour towards Noroiko. "And now you shall face me."

* * *

Konngara and Sariel's fight had taken them away from Makai, or at least the general capital that housed many of them. The two giants stood in front of one another, panting from their battle."

"I must admit, you're strength has truly rose back to what it was back in your days as a Mountain Deva... you might be even stronger than you were back then." Sariel admitted, the angel not really sounding enthusiastic, not changing his expression from the cold and emotionless mask he always wore. The seraphim raised his sceptre high above his head before pointing it at Konngara. "However, I still haven't given you the privilege, and horror, of seeing just what my true power is like. And even though we have departed from where the demons live during our battle, I still have my ways of summoning my own army."

Many tiny black dots appeared in front of the giant angel, the dots developing these limbs and other body parts as they turned into living creatures, becoming completely organic and having the regular blackness of them become their wings as they turned into crows.

"Oh, so you think a few little birds are going to scare me." Konngara responded, keeping an unimpressed look on her face. "What are you going to do, order them to peck and scratch out my eyes? You're going to have to summon something much worse than that."

"Of all the pieces on a chess set, the weak pawns are the most common." Sariel said as the purple gem at the tip of his sceptre glowed brightly. Bright magical circles appeared in front of him; not big enough to cover his body, or anything else like that, but they were still rather big. The bright circles laid down horizontally in the air, moving upwards and shining even brighter than before as they summoned these odd entities; they looked like golems with their grey bodies, human in shape, but at least three times as huge as the average human, their open eyes were a blank white as they had no emotion on their faces, six angel wings of pure light appearing on the back of all the angel creatures. "While I may not be as great as creating entities as my sister is, I still have a few creations of my own. These are my crows and my angels, they aid me in taking the dying away from the mortal realm."

"I see." Konngara responded, the horned woman smirking at Sariel. Before Sariel could question why she was smiling, Konngara stabbed her katana into the ground, the giant oni creating a large cut in the ground, a red light seeping in through the cut. "It's a good thing that I myself had learnt a few tricks to keep hidden up my sleeves."

The cut in the ground opened, revealing fire from within. Sariel was confused; his Sister's creation had been cut into many times, and this has never happened before. And even if Shinki decided to make this a feature of her demonic wonderland, she would have definitely told Sariel, even though she is usually very flippant and forgetful.

Multiple demons of Jigoku flew out of the fire, laughing and giggling excitedly.

"And it was within my training that I managed to increase my rule over my own demons; not as a tyrant, but as a beloved ruler.

"So you learnt how to summon even more of Hecatia's gift onto other dimensions, and tamed those creatures that are barely even the mice of True Hell?" Sariel asked, the man keeping his calm guise as he looked at Konngara and her demons, the portal to Jigoku closing. "It doesn't matter, you will not leave this place without suffering the major consequences. Crows, peck out their eyes and pick their bones clean of all flesh. Angels, crush them and eradicate them with your holy light!"

The crows cawed and the 'angels' let out a grunt, the creations (?) of Sariel's flying towards Konngara and her demons.

"Do what you do best: destroy everything you want in sight!" Konngara commanded of the Jigoku demons, the same creatures letting out cries of excitement. "But don't try to fight the giant there, he's too strong for any of you to hold a match against. I'll handle him."

The non-Makai demons didn't let out an complaints, merely happy that they could have some fun against something new. They flew forwards, either unleashing waves of danmaku or trying to hit the crows and angel with their weapons or claws. The crows usually just attacked with their beaks or by cutting at the demons' skin with their sharp talons, though they occasionally shot a weak piece of danmaku. Though while there were clearly far more crows than anything else, it was the angels that were the real threats towards the demons.

Whenever they were what angels really looked like, or if even the light they were wielding was truly the light of Heaven, they were still nothing short of trouble for the demons, even though they were also more or less immortal. Just one punch from the human-like stone creatures was enough to send one demon shooting into a pile of others, knocking them over like a bowling ball with a set of pins. And of course there was the light they used; either appearing in the form of large balls of light that absolutely burned the demons skin, or simply charging up lasers that did the same thing, albeit being much harder for them to dodge.

But despite this, the demons were still immortal - they could regenerate from their bloody and brutal wounds in a few seconds, and even with their bodies destroyed they can still return in time - and they were having some of the best fun in their lives; they'll keep fighting until all the crows and angels are gone.

Sariel took flight, flying up high into the air, Konngara flying high right after him. The two were high in the air, with Sariel pointing his sceptre towards the oni, the gem at the end once again glowing brightly with a purple glow.

Sariel fired a large, purple laser towards Konngara, the ruler of Jigoku keeping her katana in her hand, swinging it at the laser, cutting it clean in half. Konngara surrounded the blade of her sword in lightning, the oni appearing in front of the seraphim in an instant, constantly swinging her katana at the angel, only for him to dodge it every time.

Sariel suddenly punched Konngara in the stomach, the oni unable to stop her body from cringing in response to the pain. Sariel gave her a swift kick in the back of the head, sending her flying towards the ground. Sariel pointed his sceptre towards the ground that Konngara was sent flying towards, the seraphim making multiple lasers and danmaku fly down from the sky and right towards her. Konngara looked up towards Sariel as she was still plummeting towards the ground, the oni stopping herself, just a few inches above the ground, flying away from the danmaku and lasers.

Konngara made a flame appear in her hand, the oni outstretching her hand towards the angel she was fighting, the flame increasing into a vast tornado of fire that engulfed Sariel. The angel covered his face with his arm, his clothes burning off and his skin and flesh being cooked from the tornado of fire. Sariel quickly repaired his body and clothes from the damage of the fire, almost looking like he wasn't hit at all.

Konngara shot towards him like a speeding train, kicking him in the face. Sariel wasn't as affected by the physical attack as Konngara would be, the seraphim grabbing hold of her ankle, hitting her across the face with his staff.

The oni flew out of his hold, making lightning spark and crackle in her hand before shooting it out towards Sariel, hitting him square in the face.

"It seems as though this battle won't end easily, or quickly." Sariel said, the large angel swinging his sceptre around, causing the crows and angels in the distance to stop fighting the Jigoku demons and fly to surround him. "I might as well as make it as painful as possible for you."

"Try it." Konngara responded as the Jigoku demons followed after the crows and angels, appearing at Konngara's side again. "This fight will still end with you being defeated."

* * *

The sun was high in the air, a calm breeze blowing throughout Gensokyo, an otherwise peaceful day that humans and youkai alike had decided to enjoy for the novelty of it. Though that was the case until multiple Makai demons had kept on mysteriously appearing within the illusionary land, causing general destruction and chaos for the fun of it.

Of course, the locals didn't take kind to this, and would usually retaliate. And, as more of the demons stopped appearing from the portal, most of the Makai demons kept on getting defeated in the battles they were in.

And within an unknown space between dimensions, outside of time, space and reality, there was someone watching these events throughout all of Gensokyo through countless eyes that took up the black space she was in. Yukari Yakumo was sitting down on a fancy chair as she watched everything that was happening, the Youkai Sage merely watching instead of actually stopping it like she would usually do.

By Yukari's side was another woman, with blonde hair and golden eyes, and nine long, yellow fox tails. "Lady Yukari, I usually don't question your actions throughout all these centuries I have been working for you, but I wonder why you're not putting an end to this." The woman said, causing the youkai to look at her. The kitsune didn't waver as she look at her master seriously; it wasn't like a glare, but it was still obvious that she was serious. "Usually whenever an incident like this happens in Gensokyo, you would go and put a stop to this, especially as you are a Youkai Sage. I know you and Shinki went through an agreement a long time ago, but this wouldn't be the first time you've toppled another dimension because it has caused a great danger to fall upon our beloved fantasy land."

"It's okay, Ran." Yukari said casually, floating next to her was a bowl of macaroons, the ancient being picking a macaroon and tossing it into her mouth. "I have full trust that Reimu Hakurei and the others will handle the situation for us. I know whenever a situation is dangerous enough for me to attack myself, if they end up failing, or are put in any danger that they can't escape or stop by themselves, _then_ will make my appearance."

Yukari looked up from the many eyes in front of her to the eyes above, showing everything happening in Makai; the dimension in growing destruction.

"Shinki just wanted to have some fun by creating a tourism agency, but since everyone knows basically everything about Makai, she decided to go with Gensokyo. And without even asking a Youkai Sage for permission, or if it is even okay to set her tourism in Gensokyo." Yukari paused, the macaroon that she about to eat staying between her index finger and thumb, her golden eyes showing an emotion of mild annoyance. "Unless if she decided to ask Okina, I know someone like her would cause something like this to get on my nerves."

"No, no. I'm sure that the ultimate, absolute secret god would make it known that she is the one behind it if it happens." Ran responded, the youkai remaining flying in the air. "In fact, if I know her as much as I do, she would even probably yell it out loud that she is behind it."

"Yes, that is true." Yukari responded, eating her macaroons again as she looked at the eyes that showed Makai, seeing that Reimu and Marisa were being attacked by an ice demon named Mai, while Mima and Yuuka were facing against a fire demon named Yuki. "Nevertheless, if things turn out bad for Reimu, then I'll step in. However, considering what she is capable of, as well as what the others are capable of, I doubt that my assistance will be needed."

"Understood, Lady Yukari." Ran responded with a bow, keeping a calm and professional guise. "If it is okay, I request to go back home to look after Chen."

"You're allowed." Yukari said, waving a hand as she opened a Gap to their house. "I'll probably just have a nap after this incident is over, you can go back to looking after the cat."

Ran didn't bother correcting her master, seeing as Chen is her shikigami, and Ran herself is Yukari's shikigami - a shikigami of someone's shikigami wouldn't be seen the same way by the master of the shikigami that owns its own shikigami. Ran merely bowed at her master and walked through the Gap. Yukari used her power to manipulate boundaries to make the opening in space-time close, looking back at the eyes that showed everything happening in Gensokyo and Makai.

"Hmm~?" Yukari hummed as she saw something unexpected in one of the eyes. "What's this?"

Yukari looked forward, seeing three Makai demons in Gensokyo that were flying towards where no other Makai demon was going.

* * *

"Hey, Iyo, why are we flying back?" Sayo asked curiously, the fairy-like brunette and Haru flying after the green-haired demon.

"Because this place freakin' _sucks_." Iyo responded angrily, the demon having her arms wrapped across her chest angrily. She was flying towards the portal that took them from Makai to Gensokyo, finding her way through memory alone. "The locals here are rude and don't know how to have fun, the grass and sun don't look good and get even uglier the longer I look at it, and this is just overall a bad place for a vacation. I'm going home, and I'm going to sleep in my bed and wake up in the morning, and I'll spend tomorrow having a fun day."

"Well I do agree that this isn't as great as anticipated." Haru admitted, the blue-haired demon having a hand on her cheek as she waved her head from side to side, a sad expression on her face. "I think I'll just end my vacation now and relax at home. Maybe I should send Lady Shinki a complaint, maybe she'll pick a good place next time."

"At least we can put this day behind us and..." Sayo started, the fairy-like demon stopping as she noticed the absence of something. "Wait, where is the cave?"

"I dunno." Iyo responded, a little unsure, but ultimately shrugging it off. "We'll just fly further and find it eventually and..."

The three demons stopped as they saw only a giant slab of stone sticking out of the ground, in front of it were five disks, each having a closed eye that showed that they were defeated.

"Holy shit! What happened here?" Iyo said upon sight of everything in front of her, the demon flying towards the defeated YuugenMagan, looking at the gatekeeper in surprise. "How'd this all happened."

"Gensokians... attack... Makai..." YuugenMagan muttered, the demon still exhausted from all the battles it just went through today. "Hakurei Maiden... The Monster... attack Makai. YuugenMagan... stand no chance...!"

"Well, this doesn't look good." Haru said. "Not good at all."

"What should we do?" Sayo asked, the pink dress-wearing demon looking troubled about what was happening. "The Gensokians are too strong for us, but our home is being attacked by them. What is there that we can do?"

"We go back to Makai, obviously." Iyo said simply, walking towards the gateway, looking back at her friends. "We could still do something to one of them. Besides, I want to stop them before they ruin my home in particular, I don't want to lose my comfy bed."

"She's got her priorities in their own places, that's for sure." Sayo and Haru mumbled as Iyo entered the portal. The two demons looked at each other, letting out a sigh before running after their friend.

* * *

Yumemi and Chiyuri were sitting on the roof of a building that had escaped the fate of its friends of being reduced to nothing but rubble, but it definitely had a few large cracks on it that signified that it might not be so lucky for so long.

They were resting, the demons were able to get past their defences and started attacking them. Luckily, their good friend and student Rika had came to save the day with her new and improved Evil Eye Sigma. Rika was having a blast (pun not intended) with her new tank, firing bullets, danmaku and bombs everywhere; demons left and right were falling down, unable to stand a chance against her new device, simply falling down exhausted. Rika couldn't even contain or hide her excitement as she just continued to laugh without end.

"She sure seems to be enjoying herself." Yumemi commented, watching the tank as the girl was using it to defeat many demons all around.

"Yeah she sure is." Chiyuri said as she finished wrapping a bandage around the redhead's right bicep, the white strip gaining a faint red colour. "I'm kinda glad that we're on her side, and that we're technically her superiors."

"Yes, quite." Yumemi said, the teenager suddenly looking down from the battle that Rika was single-handedly winning. Chiyuri noticed the dull look of melancholy entering the other Outsider's eyes, the younger teen letting out an audible gulp. Sure Yumemi could be rude and even had a tendency to whack her on the side of the head, but Chiyuri still knew that Yumemi's mind was still on the whole morality thing, and she didn't want thoughts like that to make her friend feel bad.

"Hey, don't worry." Chiyuri comforted as she patted Yumemi on the back. "This Shinki is meant to be a goddess, right? I'm sure she can repair the damage that we do to Makai, so you don't need to feel guilty. I mean they're immortal anyways, and a lot of fiction that I've seen portray demons as being able to live without homes, so there is nothing to feel guilty about, right?"

"Yeah." Yumemi responded with a weak smile. "Though now I'm kinda worried about Shinki using her god powers to allow the people of Makai to get revenge against us for this."

"Hey, if Shinki's sending her demons to Gensokyo because she wants to rule over more, then she can't have the god powers to do that, exactly." Chiyuri said. "After all, if she did then we would have lost before we began."

"Yeah, I guess that's right." Yumemi responded, the two Outsiders merely watching Rika as she continued without seemingly any end.

The two were suddenly hit in the back by a bright laser, a burning, stinging pain in their backs as they were sent off the building they were sitting on. Yumemi was the first to act, using her artificial magic and the flying ability it gave her to make both herself and Chiyuri stop falling before they became flat corpses against the ground.

Yumemi lowered herself and Chiyuri down to the ground, the teenager swearing that she could feel blood come out of her back, most likely from a wound caused by the surprise laser, though it was luckily not a fatal amount of blood. The two Outsiders looked up, seeing Louise lower towards the ground, landing in front of them.

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced." Louise said simply. She took off her hat and held onto it as she curtsied with her free hand, giving Yumemi and Chiyuri a slight bow. "I am Louise Monet. How do you do?"

"Yumemi Okazaki, a little grumpy because of an absence from strawberries and a pain in my back." Yumemi responded flatly.

"Chiyuri Kitashirakawa, a little thirsty." Chiyuri said with just as little emotion.

"I see that the proper greetings are now in order." Louise said calmly, putting her hat back on. "Now die."

* * *

Alice's feet felt like they were literally going to explode with how much they hurt, she is almost certain that she has at least one blister on her feet by now, but she ignored it; she can just heal it when she uses the Ultimate Magic.

She was getting closer to Pandemonium with each painful step, the castle growing bigger and bigger as Alice came closer and closer. Alice felt a chill grow on her skin, like the layer of tissue was going to freeze, and maybe even start falling off, like human skin when exposed to frostbite. The meant that she is coming closer to the area that guarded Pandemonium; a chill and eternally ice-covered part of The Capital that had gained the name 'World of Ice and Snow', for it's eternally frigid temperature.

Alice's feet felt like they were ice cold, the pain from her blisters only burning even hotter. Alice had to swallow down her whine of pain, the demon part of her forcing her to continue running. She could hear danmaku fire in the distance, deeper within the World of Ice and Snow, along with some voices shouting things that she couldn't clearly make out.

But what she could make out was that those four (or five?) evil Gensokians' voices could be heard among them, meaning that Alice could possibly get back inside Pandemonium before them.

Alice gave her feet a slight rest as she started using her flying power again, albeit mostly to cross over a fall ice sculpture, and a small river in The World of Ice and Snow that mysteriously never froze over. Alice had to drop to her feet again, her lack of a general rest exhausting even her magical reserves. She kept herself moving forward, not letting the pain in her feet get to her, her body temperature dropping as the cold chill of the World of Ice and Snow began to strengthen.

She couldn't run anymore, the girl only able to force herself to simply take steps forwards. She wanted to cry, but she already used up all her tears when she went against those Gensokians.

"Alice?" A concerned voice asked. Alice looked towards the owner of the voice, seeing Yumeko, the strongest creation of her mother standing there, completely unharmed and unbothered, even by the cold. Her golden eyes were widened in horror at the sight of the state that Alice was in, the maid immediately rushing towards the human-demon hybrid, hugging her and teleporting them both out of The World of Ice and Snow, both now safe and warm within the confines of Pandemonium.

Alice felt her knees give up beneath her, her animus to get back to Pandemonium having vanished as she completed her goal, thus the energy brought out by it had vanished with it. Yumeko dropped down to her knees, worriedly giving Alice a tight yet soft hug, tears in the eyes of the usually impassive maid.

"You had us so worried...!" Yumeko breathed as she pulled back from the hug and looked at Alice with lacrimal eyes. "We know that things were pretty happy this morning, but you just decided to disappear without a trace. I've been looking all around for you, and when I finally find you, you're hurt. Do you have any idea what I'm feeling right now? What Lady Shinki is feeling right now?!"

"I-I'm sorry...!" Alice responded before breaking into a cry, the human-demon hybrid trying to rub away the tears that just kept on coming and coming without end. "I just... I just wanted to buy a present for Mummy, and then it happened. I just wanted to help, to stop them, but I got hurt, and now you and Mummy are mad at me."

"Alice, Alice, we're not mad at you." Yumeko said softly, the blonde maid still sitting on her knees in front of Alice, picking her up and holding her small form in her arms. "We're just worried, but is important is that you are now safe."

Yumeko used her powers to manipulate space to make herself and Alice vanish, the two reappearing within Alice's room. Yumeko carried Alice to her bed, laying her down on the bed.

Yumeko's soft face turned into an angry glare of sorts. "Now, tell me, who did this to you?" The demon asked darkly, Alice stopped crying, looking at the blonde demon. Yumeko simply pointed towards the cuts and bruises on Alice's body, as well the tears on her clothes. "Tell me who in particular decided to hurt you. I want to show them why I'm not only the head maid, but also the judge who punishes anyone who commits a crime, especially one like hurting you."

Alice was certain that Yumeko would be able to stand a chance against those four, even Mummy herself sometimes had troubles against the blonde whenever they sparred for the Demon Goddess' entertainment.

"T-There was a shrine maiden who had purple hair, kinda like an eggplant, and she was on a flying turtle. There was this blonde witch as well, who flew on a broomstick and had a magic wand that kind of looks like Elis'. There was a youkai with green hair and red eyes, she was wearing some plaid and had a parasol that she fired a laser out of." Alice described, moving her arms around over the body parts that she described, as well as doing actions to mimic what they did. "And there was this green-haired ghost that had a huge staff, and she used this giant spell where she fired a large beam of dim light."

Yumeko's sullen expression worsened upon hearing the details. "Mima...!" Yumeko growled, the demon vanishing. Alice was left alone in her room, the little girl eyeing her toybox in the corner. Yumeko suddenly reappeared, at least externally, the demon standing next to the closed doors of Alice's room. "I apologise, Lady Alice, but Lady Shinki has ordered that you stay in here until the trouble is taken care of."

Yumeko touched the two closed doors, a green energy surrounding the wooden doors; a spell that basically locks them, meaning that Alice can't escape.

"The matter will be settled soon, hopefully. You can still play with your toys, you just can't come out." Yumeko said before vanishing, leaving Alice on her own.

The little girl didn't care, running towards the toybox and opening the little blue chest with various yellow spots. She tossed away all the toys and plush animals within the box, finally finding something that was tucked meticulously into the corner of the chest. Alice leaned into the toybox, pulling out the other little box. Alice shook the smaller box, hearing a little thump as the object inside took up most of the space. She turned it over as she got confirmation that it is the right box, and the item that she wants is still inside.

She peered at the golden lock on the front of the box, the item unable to open until the key is inserted.

Alice knew where the key for the box is, the only problem, however, is that the key isn't located within Alice's room. The human-demon hybrid looked at the closed and magically door, pointing a finger at it. With what remained of Alice's magical energy, she made a laser beam shoot out of her index that she pointed at the door.

The two pieces of wood that made up the door broke off, breaking into many splinters. Keeping the box close to her chest, Alice began to run down the hallway of Pandemonium, heading towards the room where the key is kept.

The key to the box that her grimoire is locked in.

* * *

 **Another chapter without much of a danmaku fight, except for the small one between Noroiko and Luana, with a bit of a spoiler for the next chapter.**

 **I kind of thought why such a crisis would happen in Gensokyo and Yukari would not intervene, though I kind of remembered that she's more of one to let others do her work for her, and would only act herself if she deemed it absolutely necessary. So for this, I decided for it to be that Yukari is confident in Reimu and the others, and that if they do fail, then she will finally do something about Makai and Shinki's tourism plans.**

 **The next chapter is unsurprisingly going to be the battle against Yuki and Mai, with what has been shown in this chapter taking place in the next. I guess now is a good time to say that not everything happening within the different segments happen right after the other.**

 **Anyways, since this chapter is meant to be happening while the things in the next chapter are happening (or possibly after the matter), the next parts won't be until after the next chapter.**

 **And yeah, Iyo, Sayo and Haru are returning. Why? Because I went to the effort of giving them names, and for some reason it bugs me slightly to give them names and just keep them to one chapter, and since I'm more than certain that they won't have any chance to appear again outside of this arc, they're appearing now. Probably won't do much with them though, since they were never meant for much.**

 **I also put in some cliff hangers for Sara and Louise, as I did say they were going to reappear. When writing the moment for Louise, I didn't want her to just introduce with her first name, it just felt kind of incomplete. So I learned that Louise is of French origin, so I decided to make her surname also be rather French.**

 **Anyways, its good to get reviews. I know that I usually don't write reviews, but it really helps to get a review, whenever it be positive or negative, because it tells me what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong, plus it usually gives me fuel to write more chapters, and possibly write in general.**

 **So, as usual, all reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


	41. The World of Ice and Snow

"Hey, is anyone else beginnin' to feel kinda chilly?" Marisa asked as she had her arms wrapped around her, the magician protégé letting out a shiver. "Seriously, feels like someone turned it down by a few degrees."

"Now that you mentioned it, I do feel kind of cold." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden unable to stop a shiver and a rattle of her teeth.

"Look forwards, girls." Mima said, the ghost pointing towards where the four were flying towards. Reimu and Marisa looked, seeing Pandemonium... and a large pile of ice sculptures with a ton of snow on it. As they stopped, the four took in the sight of the place more, seeing an area of Makai that was completely covered in ice and a few blankets of snow, save for a small river that was carrying large cubes and shards of ice.

"What is this, Madam Mima?" Marisa asked her mentor.

"I have no idea." Mima responded shamelessly as she continued to look at the area of ice and snow. Her spectral face scrunched as she looked at the area. "This was definitely not here the last time I came here, that is for sure. Though, granted, the last time I was here was when I was still alive, that of which has been at least a millennium. I'm frankly surprised, I always thought that Makai wouldn't really change that much, and it hasn't really, but this is something else entirely."

"Ah, I see." A mysterious voice said enthusiastically. "Are you amazed by Makai's new line of defence, and general area of interest?"

"Oh look, we have a new punching bag~" Yuuka said, the youkai keeping a happy and cheery expression. "Why don't you come show yourself, it will save us a hassle of finding you."

"It's no problem, I ain't shy, and neither is my friend." The mysterious voice said. In a flash, two woman appeared. One was a blonde with yellow eyes, wearing a red hat with a white bow, and a red-white dress, the red on both of them being so dark they could have been easily mistaken for black, she had an excited and happy expression, a large grin on her face as she kept her hands akimbo. Next to her was a woman with light-blue hair and blue eyes that were darker, having a bow in her hair, a dress on her body, and demon wings on her back, all that were a shade of pink so light that they looked white. Her expression was a lot different from that of the girl next to her, looking shy and calm. The first girl smiled and gave the humans and non-humans a wink. "Welcome to The World of Ice and Snow; a new line in Makai's defence, and a winter wonderland for the average Makai resident."

The girl had a large smile on her face as she stretched out her arms pridefully, like she was trying to get Reimu, Genji, Marisa, Mima and Yuuka to take in the sight of the vast area of land with ice sculptures, covered completely in blankets of snow.

"I am Yuki, a local fire demon with an exceptional amount of power; very few in Makai are stronger than me, or even a match for me." The girl, Yuki, said without hesitation, closing one of her eyes and snapping her fingers, a small flame setting alight above the digits before dying, as to prove her powers. Yuki then pointed her arms towards the girl next to her, the two keeping their respective expressions of energetic and calm. "And this person here is Mai, my best friend and a local ice demon. She's one of the few demons here that are a match for me, so you better not mess with her, even though she is shy."

"...Hello." Mai said quietly, the demon shuffling behind Yuki.

 **The Black Flames**

 **Yuki**

 **The White Frost**

 **Mai**

"Ah, I think I've seen you two before. You two were honestly pushovers, even when my magic was much weaker back then, this honestly shouldn't be that hard." Mima said, unintimidated by the two demons in front of her. She merely pointed her crescent staff towards the fire-ice duo, lightning appearing around the moon at the end. "I'll obliterate anything that gets in my way. I am Mima: one of the cruellest, most powerful magicians to have ever existed. Begone, you little... Huh?"

Lightning was no longer sparking around the crescent of Mima's staff, ice growing on the end and spreading around the staff, like some sentient bacteria.

"What the...?" Marisa said as the ice continued to cover more and more of the staff until it was basically a spear of ice with a sceptre within it. Even then, the ice continued to grow and spread, eventually turning into a large rectangle of ice, which fell down to the ground. Marisa looked at the rectangle before looking up at Mima, and unimpressed expression on her face. "Mima, I don't know what you're doin', but it's kinda lame."

"That wasn't me." Mima responded. The ghost looked at the demon duo in front of her, Yuki keeping a smug expression as she had her hands akimbo, Mai hiding behind the blonde. Mima glared at the latter demon, causing the 'shy' thing to hide even further behind her friend.

"Ha, ha, ha, told you that Mai here is tough." Yuki said as she kept a large grin that stretched from one ear to the other. "She froze the sceptre all by herself, and that's barely even the full power of her Ice Magic. You'll better give up and accept defeat right now."

"You think _that_ little magic trick is enough to scare me?" Mima spat at the two demons, keeping her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at them. "I was more upset that she had the nerve to do that, and that she actually thought that would do anything. I can recreate that staff with a mere thought and a bit of magic, and I have countless ways to free it from the ice block you put it in. Observe..."

Mima held out a hand, the crescent sceptre in the ice rectangle bellow suddenly shooting out of the ice without problem, the ghost catching it in her hand without effort.

"Don't forget what I am." Mima said, "And that is one of the worst magicians... No, one of the worst _beings_ , to ever get on the bad side of."

"Uh-huh, uh-huh." Yuki responded boredly, giving off a dismissive wave. "It doesn't matter, we'll still make you regret meeting us."

"It doesn't matter. I'll just blast you two and your little line of defence into nothing with a simple Master Spark." Yuuka said as she pointed her closed parasol at the duo. "Though if you two give up now, I won't have to do that."

Yuki suddenly shot fire in Yuuka's eyes, the globular organs exploding as the fire burned them. Yuuka had dropped her parasol as she put her hands over her eye sockets until the eyes themselves healed, which was thankfully only a few seconds.

"That was very rude of you, you know." Yuuka said, looking a little miffed at the duo. The parasol rose back up to Yuuka, though not by telekinesis, but instead a vine that came out of the snow-covered ground, the youkai grabbing hold of the item. "You're lucky damage to my eyes isn't something that annoys me too much."

"Geez, this is like some bad comedy setup." Marisa said, the magician pointing her magic wand at the demon duo. "I ain't gonna let you burn or freeze me, let's get to the point."

Marisa suddenly zipped in front of the fire and ice duo, firing a large wave of multicoloured star-shaped danmaku at them. Yuki lost her smug face and Mai let out a small scream, the two demons flying away, grazing most of the danmaku, though still getting hit by some of the stars. Marisa just smirked, the spellcaster flying closer, creating magic circles by waving around her magic wand, the wand shooting lasers at Yuki and Mai. The demons retaliated as Yuki fired multiple fireballs of gigantic size at Marisa while Mai shot out countless icicles that were much like spears.

Marisa flew away, dodging the fire and ice attacks.

"Wow, you're actually pretty strong, I'll admit that." Yuki said as she remained where she fired her magical attack. "But of course, a duo like Mai and myself aren't one to be trifled with."

"Yeah right, Eggplant 'n I are more than enough to beat both of you demons, 'specially when we get serious." Marisa said, keeping a large and sure grin on her face. "Hell, I can beat both of you right now, on my own. I'll just show you the true power of my magic."

"Are you really sure that you can win in a two-on-one battle?" Yuki asked, a smirk on her face.

"Of course I do." Marisa responds, her eyes glistening with excitement. "It means I get two chances to beat someone, two chances to escape from danmaku, and two chances to win."

A large bead of sweat fell down from the temple of everyone present, except for Marisa herself. "...That doesn't make an iota of sense...!" Mai mumbled.

"Well, whatever, if you can make it further, you can come after us." Yuki said, the blonde demon and her blue-haired friend flying away from the quartet, the duo distancing themselves from each other. "However, you'll have to either stay in your pairs and go after one of us as a single team, or split up and have two teams go after each of us respectively. It's one way or the other."

"Hmm, looks like we'll need to split up and fight both of them." Reimu said as the two floated further away.

"Or we can simply fly by without fighting them." Genji suggested, the ancient turtle-like entity frowning in annoyance. "Time could very well be of the essence here. We shouldn't waste our time by fighting these demons, we should make a beeline to Pandemonium, especially as we are so close to it now. We'll lose a lot of time when we fight Shinki, so we must be quick to make it there, before its too late for Gensokyo to be saved."

"I don't really know what you're talking about, but I don't really care." Yuki said, the demon closing one of her eyes, whilst keeping the other pointing towards her friend. "Come on, Mai. Let's have some fun~."

"Okay..." Mai responded, the demon holding out a hand. "But, before we go, this will make it harder for you all to find your way around."

Mai raised her hand high into the air, making a small snowstorm appear above the World of Ice and Snow, causing a colder chill to come across the area, as well as make a small piece of mist appear over The World of Ice and Snow.

"If you want to make your way out of here, then you're going to have to beat us~." Yuki said rather playfully, letting out a wink. "And don't think of escaping, 'cause we'll just fly after you and shoot you down~."

The two demons then flew away in different directions, meaning that the four would have to do either of the options that Yuki gave them.

"Looks like we'll need to split up." Mima said, the ghost looking back at the others, her hair waving from the gust of wind caused by the snowstorm Mai had casted. She had her hands on her hips as she looked at the others; Reimu's kimono and hakama were flapping around the loose areas as her ribbon looked like it could end up flying off, Genji didn't show any signs of feeling cold but had to keep shaking his head to get the piling snow to come off, Marisa was keeping a hand on her hat to keep it from being sent flying off by the blowing wind as her bare arms shivered slightly from the coldness brought out by the snowstorm, Yuuka's hair was also blowing against the wind but she seemed to have little notice of the snowstorm - at least outside of the parasol she was keeping up to keep the snow from falling on her. "Who wants to go with who?"

"My, there's five of us, so I don't know how we can..." Yuuka mumbled, the youkai widening her eyes as she seemingly noticed something, looking at the holy duo. "Oh wait, since Genji can't really fight, and Reimu has an inability to fly, they're technically one. Okay, four of us, so we can split up in an even pair."

"Exactly." Mima said, the ghost and Yuuka ignoring the glares being sent towards them by Reimu and Genji. "Now, how do we split up?"

"A game of rock-paper-scissors?" Marisa suggested. "Or how's 'bout we start drawin' straws? The two with the smallest straws have to team up together."

"We can't exactly leave it all up to random chance to decide." Yuuka said, the youkai suddenly looking serious as she had a stern look on her face. The youkai cast out her hand, quickly speaking something in an alien-sounding language, making an invisible barrier around the youkai, the humans and the other non-humans, stopping the snow or cold wind from touching them again. "Reimu isn't good with magic, so she doesn't seem like a good person to pair with me or Mima, and even though I know Mima and Marisa work together well, I am more close to Mima's level and skill of magic than Marisa is, sorry."

"Where are you goin' with this?" Marisa asked in impatient annoyance.

"I think Reimu and her pet turtle should team up with Marisa, while I team up with Mima." Yuuka suggested, losing her seriousness as she had a flippant expression on her face. "Reimu and Marisa show that they are a good team, even though they sometimes quarrel. As for Mima and myself, we are both very well versed and powerful in magic. I don't doubt that with these pairs, one of us could defeat one of those demons before the others, and then all four of us could go against one demon... provided that she hasn't lost by then to the other team."

"Wait... are you trying to make it some sort of race to see who could defeat one of the demons first?" Reimu asked. an embarrassed bead of sweat falling down from her temple.

"Ha, you got it!" Marisa said, suddenly shaking hands with Yuuka. "It doesn't matter if you got Mima herself on your side, Eggplant and I'll sniff out one of those demons and beat them up before you can find your own demon. We'll probably even find and defeat both of them before you can find even one."

"My, that's very haughty of you." Mima said, the ghost leaning against the air with a smirk on her face. "Do you want to put a wager on-?"

"Enough of this!" Genji yelled, the turtle growing annoyed. "The more we talk, the longer we wait until we fight Shinki. Come on, Lady Reimu, Marisa, let's go and find one of the demons already. Let's just stop them already!"

Genji flew away with a surprised Reimu on top of him. Marisa watched and blinked as the flying turtle was starting to disappear from where he was flying with the faint mist made by the snowstorm Mai created, the magician protégé letting out a small sigh before she went flying after the duo, leaving Yuuka and Mima on their own.

"Well now, they sure are an energetic bunch." Yuuka commented, the youkai dispelling her little barrier to protect against the snowstorm, as it had little effect on a youkai and ghost in the first place. She let out a little chuckle, keeping her parasol above her to block out the snow. "The children nowadays sure can be overzealous. Let's hope that zeal won't make them do something they'll dearly regret in the future."

"Mmm-hmm." Mima responded, a distant look in her eyes. "Uh-huh, uh-huh."

Yuuka gave Mima a blank look, the youkai regaining her usual pleasant smile. "Is something on your mind, Cactus?" The youkai asked playfully, the green-haired moving closer towards the spectral being. "Are you thinking about some spells that you can use to defeat one or both of the demons in a flash?"

"No." Mima responded simply, the ghost looking towards the youkai, her green eyes dull and emotionless. "It's just a simple question of if I can trust you."

Yuuka was taken by surprise from the ghost's question, however she quickly regained her composure, albeit she started to let out a bit of a dark laugh. "Oh... I see. You don't trust me because of my past don't you?" The youkai asked, 'stepping' closer towards Mima, the ghost not showing any signs of fear, even as the top of Yuuka's face was completely shadowed, except for her red eyes, the girl leaning her head close to Mima's. "Do you not trust me because I was once The Ultimate Sadist Creature? A monster so vile and evil that even those that were willing to kill and sacrifice even children and babies for their goals were considered to be far more likely to find redemption than I was? Beings such as yourself~?"

"Yes." Mima responded flatly.

Yuuka suddenly lost the tense air around her, the shadows around the top of her head disappearing. She was making a small laugh, her fingers covering her mouth as she kept laughing softly. "Mima, did you forget about the grimoires I gave to you and your student?" Yuuka asked seriously, though kindly, acting completely different from how she was a few seconds ago. "Did you ever feel something happen to you upon touching it? Did your student show any signs of being attacked by some force that she couldn't fight back? Don't forget that back in my Ultimate Sadist Creature days I had cursed my grimoires to make it that anyone that stole them, or were given them by me, would be attacked right down to the soul? I think it is more than clear enough that I'm a completely different Yuuka than the Ultimate Sadist Creature from the days of yore."

"Yeah you're right." Mima responded, looking calm as she held her hand tight around her crescent sceptre. "Let's find a demon and make her regret tempting us to fight her. We'll show her what the cruellest magician and the former Ultimate Sadist Creature can do, especially with our knowledge and power of magic."

"Yes, let's." Yuuka agreed, the youkai and spectre flying deeper into the World of Ice and Snow, not caring about the almost meaningless snowstorm.

* * *

"Jeez, if I w-was a boy, I wouldn't b-b-be one anymore with how-w-w cold this p-place is." Marisa complained as she and Reimu flew deeper into the World of Ice and Snow, the girl shivering and regretting the lack of sleeves on her witch costume, her teeth making a rattle as she couldn't control it with how cold she was getting. "Yo, E-Eggplant, Fossils, how a-are you two-o-o not feelin' c-cold?"

"I am cold." Reimu responded, the shrine maiden hugging herself as she tried to keep herself warm. "It's useful sometimes to have a nice kimono like this. You're not wearing an sleeves, don't be surprised when you get cold in a zone covered in snow and cold winds."

"Y-yeah, I know." Marisa responded, the magician hoping that her legs wouldn't freeze fuse with her broomstick, glaring at Genji. "And h-how come _you_ are-e unbothered?"

"I am not a natural turtle." Genji answered as he flew through the air, the turtle peering at the mist to see if he could find one of the two demons, mostly wanting to find them so he can get himself and the others out of there and stop Shinki before it's too late to save Gensokyo. "I am a spiritual being, I am not of real biology, so only really cold magical winds or ice or snow can properly freeze me."

"A-ah, I get it." Marisa responded sarcastically, the girl letting out a growl with her next shiver. "D-dammit! Why do I have to be s-so godsdammned cold?"

"Don't you know some sort of spell to protect yourself against the cold?" Reimu asked, the purple-haired shrine maiden looking at the blonde magician. "You seem to have a spell for everything else, like magical glasses that allow you to see things from far away and all that other junk, surely something like that shouldn't be out of your scope of abilities."

"It shouldn't." Marisa responded, the girl making a big grin as she shrugged. "But it is."

Reimu and Genji stopped, the two looking at Marisa, completely dumbstruck at the mage. Reimu slapped her own face, Genji just cringed.

"Aww c'mon, it can't be that hard to believe." Marisa responded indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest and puffing out her cheeks, seemingly forgetting about how cold she was. "So I prefer to learn spells that blast the living Hell outta everythin' that moves. Stop judgin' me!"

Reimu just sighed as she removed her hand from her face, the purple-haired shrine maiden looking at the Yin-Yang Orb half floating next to her. She pressed her hand on it, the orb glowing as an image of a priest appeared in front of the maiden and her turtle, the spirit on his knees with his hands folded in prayer.

"What is it that you request, Lady Reimu?" Gyoku asked calmly.

"Do you know any ways that I can make a charm to negate the cold?" Reimu asked, her eyes half closed as she was still miffed about the apparent spell that Marisa had no knowledge of. Reimu even pointed her thumb at the aforementioned protégé. "Apparently, even though she is trained by someone as great at magic as Mima, she doesn't know any spells to protect herself against the cold of this place we're in."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it!" Marisa responded grumpily, flailing her arms about angrily before crossing them once again. "Marisa Kirisame doesn't know jackshit 'bout spells for the cold an' all that crap! Tell the entire freakin' neighbourhood. Hell, just tell the entire freakin' world! You know wh-?!"

"If you would please stop it with your vulgar language, young lady...!" Gyoku grumbled at Marisa, causing the spellcaster to stop her little rant. Gyoku looked back at Reimu, his eyes more calm as her kept himself in his prayer position. "Luckily, I do know a way to create charms against the cold, however they will require using an ofuda."

Reimu reached into her sleeve, pulling out the holy talismans. She grumbled as she looked at the limited amount of ofuda, however considering the chill that she felt, she didn't doubt that Marisa was feeling it worse, as she completely lacked sleeves of any sort. How Marisa's skin wasn't freezing off was a miracle in of itself, but Reimu knows that miracles can only last for so long. She'll just have to be careful to only use her ofuda on a dangerous threat, should she come across one.

"Okay." Reimu said plainly as she looked up at Gyoku. "Tell me how to make them."

Gyoku merely nodded, the spirit ready to tell Reimu how to make charms to ward off the cold and snow. Genji flew to somewhere next to a large pillar of ice, protecting himself and Reimu from the snow and cold air, Marisa and Gyoku following after him. Gyoku told Reimu the process on how to make cold charms, step by step, the shrine maiden doing as told until she finally made two: one for Marisa, one for herself.

Reimu put the changed ofuda in Marisa's hair, the amulet's power working as Marisa no longer felt cold. "Is that better?" Reimu asked as she placed her own winter charm into her hair.

"Yep." Marisa responded, a large smile growing on her face, though she quickly began to frown. "I gotta remember to learn some spells that work like that...!"

"A thank you would have sufficed." Reimu responded as the charm in her hair began to work its effects.

The two girls were completely warm now, thanks to the holy charms that Reimu made with her ofuda. They both let out a relaxed sigh as they enjoyed their warmth, and their brief moment of not being attacked by Makai demons.

There was suddenly a little cracking sound deep beneath the ice pillar the two maidens were next to, the giant structure suddenly leaning towards them. Reimu and Marisa flew out of the way, letting the ice pillar continue to fall, hitting other pillars and statues of ice, which then fell down and hit even more pillars and statues of ice, like the pieces in a game of dominos.

"Hmm, I shouldn't have been too surprised." A meek voice said, the voice barely being familiar because of how little they heard it earlier. The two humans and the holy entity looked towards Mai, the blue-haired ice demon looking towards them with an impassive expression and innocent blue eyes. "You two must have flown out of countless danmaku that go at incredulously high speeds if you were to come here. And there is everything that Yuki described, about you dodging the other demons' danmaku."

"Awww crap, we got the shy bucket of ice." Marisa complained, the magician sighing and pointing her magic wand at Mai. "Just stand still, and it'll be quick as I blast you into nothin'."

Mai blinked, keeping her innocent expression as she pointed her hand towards the human. Multiple giant shards of ice appeared around Mai, the ice shooting towards the two humans. Reimu and Marisa flew out of the way of the giant chunks of ice, firing lasers and danmaku at the giant diamonds of ice that the demon kept on summoning and shooting towards them.

"'Kay, you're more than you seem." Marisa admitted, the magician summoning eight magical circles that flew around her, four circles in a pattern of a square, the four other circles in a pattern of a diamond, spheres of pure light appearing within the eight golden circles that surrounded the magus. "But you're still no match for me~!"

The eight magic circles fired lasers of pure magic at Mai, the demon flying out of the way rather easily.

"You have yet to see my full power." Mai said, all shyness that she had shown earlier having completely disappeared. In fact, a smirk appeared on her face. "If you want to see what I have at my disposal, you must defeat my troops first."

Multiple fairy-like demons suddenly flew out of nowhere, firing danmaku at Reimu and Marisa in an instant. The two Gensokians fired back immediately, though it didn't change that Mai flew even deeper into the World of Ice and Snow, making it harder for Reimu and Marisa to see or find her.

"Dammit, we gotta catch up with her." Marisa said in annoyance, the magician waving her wand around as more demons got in her way. "Get in my way and you'll see the unrestrained horror of my love-coloured magic! Stardust Reverie!"

Multiple giant star-shaped danmaku fell from the sky, moving down at speeds that made them seem like a blur to most. The stars hit the demons and caused the many pillars and statues to fall, causing only more chaos as the demon flew around, bumping into each other as they were scared out of their minds by the stars that were coming upon them.

"You sure do have a habit of causing mayhem, don't you?" Reimu commented as she and Marisa flew further into the cold area in front of Makai, chasing after the ice demon.

"If you don't criticise my methods, I won't criticise yours." Marisa responded simply with a shrug as she and the shrine maiden had completely left the area of the Stardust Reverie, and the demons that were in an utter bedlam because of the spell. "Now let's beat up a demon~!"

The two girls flew even further into the World of Ice and Snow, trying to either find Mai again, or find Yuki, or possibly just reaching the gates of Pandemonium and fighting Shinki and ending this incident earlier than expected. The last option was obviously the least likely to happen. The small mist began to clear, the snowstorm ending as there was no longer even a flake falling from the sky. The snowstorm had ended, though neither Reimu, Marisa or Genji knew if the temperature rose or not.

"She's got to be here somewhere...!" Reimu mumbled as she peered at the pillars and the statues, her eyes narrowing as she tried to look closer, a grumble coming from her throat and a frown growing on her face. "Come on! We have to find and defeat her if we want to get to Pandemonium!"

Reimu then felt a cold, sharp pain in her arm, the girl unable to stop the whine of pain that broke through the barrier of her mouth.

Reimu looked at Genji and Marisa, the turtle-like entity looking at her in horror as the magical human looked at her with shock. Reimu diverted her eyes to where she felt the unwelcomed sensation; the pain having vanished into a small throb, but the coldness remained. Reimu widened her eyes as she saw an icicle that had pierced in her arm, the piece of ice and her kimono having gained a red taint from the blood that flowed from the small space in her wound.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Mai laughed from behind Reimu, the shrine maiden turning around to look at the demon. Mai's expression was now completely unlike the shy and calm face she had, now having a dark smirk on her face, looking more like what one would expect from a demon. "You shouldn't have chased after me, you know. If you decided to go for the ol' ball and chain, you wouldn't have the misfortune of facing me. Oh well, I'll enjoy turning you into my next ice sculptures."

"There's somethin' really different about you." Marisa said as she flew between Reimu and Mai, the blonde keeping a large grin on her face to hide her anger and wrath towards the demon for using a more serious attack against her friend. "You're definitely not the shy wimp you were earlier. Did'ja finally grow a pair and stopped being such a scaredy cat?"

"No, it's not like that in the slightest." Mai responded as she moved her hand through her short hair, keeping her evil smirk towards the two humans and the turtle with them. "This is what I'm really like, you see. I have to pretend to be so shy and weak, 'cause Yuki is a weak idiot who won't stop clinging to me and stalking me. I'm honestly happy to now be separated from that annoying ball and chain."

"Wait, so you don't really care about your demon friend?" Reimu asked, surprised that the blue-haired demon would say that.

"Me? Like her? Don't kid yourself!" Mai responded, seemingly sitting on the air as her smirk just got worse and worse. "I only really put up with her. I'll admit that she's strong, but she's a complete weakling compared to me. I honestly can't believe that Shinki forced me to be with her; she's a fire demon, for gods' sakes, she's basically the complete opposite of my kind of demon. I swear, Shinki is almost as dumb as that dumbass Yuki herself."

Genji and Reimu looked at Mai in surprise, not expecting her to lack the same level of respect that all the other demons showed towards the Demon Goddess.

"But anyways, enough talking about how stupid everyone else is, that'll take forever." Mai said as she outstretched an arm towards the maidens and entity, making countless sharp icicles appear in front of her. "I'll turn you into pincushions, and then into ice sculptures."

* * *

An army of Makai demons, mostly in the forms of little girls in dresses, with demon wings and horns, flew through the air of the World of Ice and Snow, only to almost immediately fly away, screaming terror as the two non-humans they were trying to strike down would instantly retaliate with dense and powerful danmaku.

"Honestly, it almost brings a tear to my eye to see such cowardly demons." Mima said as she casually waved her crescent sceptre towards a group of large eyeball demons that were firing lasers towards her and Yuuka, the aforementioned Makaians being hit with a large stream of star-shaped danmaku that left them as nothing more than atoms of what they once were. "I know I'm the fearful and powerful Madam Mima, and I am with a youkai of immense power that was once feared by even gods, but I still suspected more than this. These demons are just a bunch of crybaby cowards, they clearly need a war like this to shape up."

"That's actually a rather rude thing to say." Yuuka said as she casually fired a Master Spark at some brave demons that tried to hit the youkai and ghost from behind. "Regardless of if the people of a certain realm are weak or not, you shouldn't say that they deserve a war to come their way. However, I won't lie that they do seem to be rather weak. Either I'm just becoming used to all these Makai demons, or they've sent all of their strongest to us already."

Yuuka's eyes suddenly widened, the youkai looking worrisome as she put a hand in front of her mouth, generally looking like she was anxiously panicking.

"Oh dear, I hope that doesn't mean that they sent their strongest to the capital when we first attacked." Yuuka muttered worriedly, not even noticing the Makai demons that were flying towards her with scythes, the youkai only being saved from decapitation (not that it would matter much) by Mima, the ghost summoning multiple magical circles that fired various danmaku of a wide range of elements. "If I were to have sent powerful demons to attack them, even inadvertently, and then just leave them to fight the demons... I just wouldn't be able to live with myself if something like that were to ever happen!"

"Oh geez, calm it down, will ya?!" Mima yelled as she summoned a large fireball, throwing it at a group of demons that tried to hit her and Yuuka with a giant magical attack, the magical attack being no match for Mima's spell. "One of them is literally a being that can regenerate as long as her mind is intact, and the other is basically an embodiment of death! How many times do you need to be reminded before you stop needlessly worrying?!"

"Well excuse for caring about my friends." Yuuka responded angrily, snapping her fingers, summoning multiple magical beams that shot out of the sky, striking down any nearby demons that still thought they would have a chance against Mima and Yuuka. Yuuka looked at Mima angrily, though it wasn't a threatening kind of angry, like she was going to go on a rampage. "I bet you have those that you care about, that you worry for. What about that magician you have been training? You seem to care about her."

Mima paused, only unpausing to attack any demons that fired danmaku at her, or tried to get near for some other sort of attack. It is true that she came to care for Marisa more after she was defeated by Reimu a second time. Even when alive, she was obviously not one who let most other humans come close to her; they were mostly ever just pawns for her true goals, cannon fodder for her ambition. But Marisa, and quite possibly a few others, managed to sneak their way into her heart.

Jeez, she's really gotten soft, hasn't she?

"Fine then, you make a point." Mima responded calmly as she waved her sceptre around, casting a Stardust Reverie. "But stop it with all the verbal worrying, everyone is probably worried about someone else, but they don't talk about how worried they are all the time."

"Very well." Yuuka responded calmly, turning into a ball of light that shot across the air, firing out danmaku that was golden and shaped a bit like a cross, the danmaku bouncing off the pillars of ice and even invisible walls, the Makai demons trying desperately to avoid the danmaku, though it was honestly rather hopeless. Especially when someone as powerful and merciless as Mima is also attacking them. Yuuka had eventually stopped as all of the other Makai demons had either flown away in fear, or had simply just lost the energy to fight and lowered and laid on the snow-coated ground. The ball of light had stopped, the glowing sphere turning back into Yuuka. "It is actually rather sad when weaklings try to fight the exceptionally strong, one of the biggest tearjerkers, actually."

"Yeah, it's sad... But it sure is hella amusing." Mima responded.

Countless fireballs suddenly shot out of the mist as the snowstorm began to mysteriously die down. Mima and Yuuka were quick to react, the two former villainesses mostly dodging them with ease, though a few fireballs managed to hit them in the odd area or so. Luckily, outside of some magical damage, the fireballs didn't do anything particularly painful or bad.

"You two are honestly kinda sadistic." Yuki said as she appeared, the snowstorm vanishing completely, the fire demon being the only Makaian present as all the other Makai demons had flown away, or were defeated. The blonde demon had a rather mad expression on her face, even clicking her tongue in disappointment as she kept her knuckles pressed against her hips. "I really hope that neither of the two humans are like that, they could scar Mai for life. I'm going to defeat you two, and then I'm going to find my friend, and then we'll defeat both of those girls before anyone could do something to frighten my friend... more than usual."

Yuki immediately began to wave her arms around, shooting out many fireballs that went in many directions, the balls of fire exploding whenever they touched a surface. Mima and Yuuka flew out of the way of the danmaku and fired back.

They could at least give Yuki credit that she is able to take the danmaku that they shoot towards her, that's credit for her durability. They could also credit her ability to make danmaku patterns that were actually kind of difficult to avoid, and even then that danmaku had some power behind it whenever it hit them.

"I bet Pansy and Dandelion are having a far easier time than we are." Yuuka said causally as she blocked some of Yuki's fireballs with her parasol, Mima beside her and hiding behind the tool, charging up a magical attack. "I mean, this isn't really all that difficult, but with how shy the ice demon was, she should be a cinch for the both of them."

* * *

"Ha, ha, ha! Fear me, weaklings~!" Mai said as she continued to send countless sharp icicles towards Reimu, Genji and Marisa. The two maidens were shooting danmaku towards the icicles and Mai, the holy and magical bullets doing an adequate job in destroying the ice attacks, but they weren't doing so well for hitting Mai herself. And the demon noticed this and was in complete joy of the feeling of superiority she has over the humans, her malevolent grin growing huger and huger. "Fools, you are no match for me. It is rather disappointing, I thought that someone who could be a threat to Makai itself would be really tough, but I forgot that this place is rather dismal."

"She's a lot different from all of the previous creations that I've seen of Shinki." Genji commented as Mai continued to summon and shoot countless icicles, the ice demon even summoning large chunks of ice that fell from the sky.

It was truly absurd. All of Shinki's creations that Genji has seen in the past have always been kind and respectful towards their creator, revering her as their god and ruler; seeing Makai as their infallible, flawless home. Furthermore, Genji was almost certain that the Ultimate Magic not only allowed the caster to create their own entities, but that they could also decide what their personality would be like.

Did Shinki create this demon specifically to spite her? To be disrespectful and different?

Or is she is somehow different, like Shinki forgot to create the personality, so she developed something else entirely?

"Genjiiiiii…!" Reimu yelled as the magic turtle continued to fly further. Genji blinked as he was brought back to reality, the turtle looking to see that he was flying straight towards a pillar. "Please stooooop…! You're going too fast!"

Genji skidded to a halt, stopping just before he and Reimu went splat against the giant pillar. Before either could let out a sigh of relief, they were both pelted by hail, Mai's loud laugh being heard as they were mercilessly attacked by her ice magic.

"Wow, you two are a lot more stupid than I thought." Mai laughed as she continued to shoot hail and icicles towards both of the Gensokian maidens that she was fighting against. "At least you aren't weak, that's a bit of a step up from what is usually in here."

"Wow, even I think you're kinda obnoxious." Marisa from behind Mai, the demon having gotten too caught up in laughing and tormenting the holy duo to notice the sorcerer getting behind her. "I mean, I appreciate others havin' and attitude and all - doesn't hurt to bite back and not let people walk all over ya - but you're just a completely different level of rude."

"Oh cry me a river, you overgrown, magician-cosplaying baby." Mai responded, making a mocking gesture with her hand. "If you can't handle what I'm really like, then you clearly just don't have the guts to insult and mock others."

"And you don't have the power to face against me." Marisa said as she suddenly spun around very quickly on her broomstick, allowing the piece of the wooden body near the tassels at to hit the demon in the face. Before Mai could properly recover, Marisa pointed her magic wand directly into her face, the little star at the end lighting up before a beam of magical power shot out into Mai's face, causing the demon to lunge back by the force of the attack alone. Mai managed to stop her falling body, the demon letting out an annoyed growl as she glared at Marisa, flying away to create more of a distance between her and the human. "Aww, what's the matter? Too much of an overgrown, demon-cosplaying crybaby?"

"You must be a unique kind of thief to steal other peoples' words." Mai said, the demon glaring at Marisa as she continued her icicle and hail attack, though now she was now focussing on the magician.

Mai kept her focus on Marisa as the blonde continued to dodge her attacks; the more Mai looked at her, the more the human looked like Yuki... which meant the more that Mai wanted to hit and hurt her. And, as Mai was no longer looking at Reimu and Genji, she didn't notice that attack that the shrine maiden was charging.

As Mai was once again confident, knowing that Marisa's star-shaped danmaku could barely even come close to her because of all the icicles she shot towards the magus. Even the hail got in the way of some of the stars, destroying them in the process, like with the icicles.

And that confidence was shattered in an instant, like a window that just got hit by a rock that was thrown against it with great strength, as she was suddenly surrounded by yin-yang that were glowing colours.

"What the...?!" Mai said as she saw the yin-yang circling around her. The blue-haired demon glared at Marisa, the magician's smirk even bigger than usual. "What is this?!"

"Don't ask me." Marisa responded simply, crossing her arms behind her head causally as she sat on her broom, seemingly leaning back against the empty air behind her. Marisa then moved one of her arms and pointed towards Reimu, the young shrine maiden glaring at Mai as she kept her Fantasy Seal active, the icicle that pierced through her skin and flesh remaining where it was on the arm, the blood having dried and caking the arm and piece of ice. "Mai, is it? You're a demon, right? Well this is going to suck for you, 'cause not only is Reimu a shrine maiden that can harness holy energy, but that there is a Fantasy Seal, and those are her strongest attacks; made specifically to exterminate youkai, and you demons aren't much different."

"What?!" Mai outburst incredulously, looking at Reimu with eyes that showed an amalgamation of anger, horror, and fear. "Damn you...! Damn you to the deepest, hottest level of Hell!"

The Fantasy Seal shot towards Mai from every which way, making a loud explosion of holy energy; a charred humanoid falling down from where the explosion came, landing on the ground with a loud and painful thud; the humanoid being featureless, either due to all features being burnt off and destroyed by the holy energy, or it was just simply the distance that Reimu and Marisa were from the ice demon.

"Heh, that was easier than expected." Marisa commented as she looked at the defeated demon, still remaining charred and featureless as her regenerative capabilities had yet to kick in. Marisa looked back at Reimu, the magician throwing upon seeing the icicle that was still embedded into her arm. "Reimu, we gotta do somethin' 'bout that icicle and the wound it caused."

"I'm not sure about removing it." Reimu commented, the purple-haired putting a hand over the slightly crimson piece of ice. "I think it's stopping more blood from coming out. We're going to have to find some bandages or some way to heal the cut, I don't think and open wound is good when we're against demons, even if they are kind of weak."

"Why don't you use one of your ofuda as a bandage?" Marisa asked. "I mean, I still don't know any healing spells, and your ofuda are sorta capable of anything, so wouldn't it work like that?"

"No, that is rather improper use of the holy charms." Genji said, shaking his head from side to side. "They are meant for youkai extermination and for protection against curses. They're not meant to be used as bandages."

"Well, that's almost a kick in the teeth." Marisa said grumpily, the spellcaster dangling her legs as she sat on the flying broom. "Well we can't keep that icicle in there... doesn't sound like a good thing to keep in a wound to stop bleeding."

Marisa leaned forward and rested one arm against her legs, resting the elbow of her other arm against the first arm's wrist, pressing her fingers against her lips as she tried to think of a way to help Reimu with what the icicle did.

"Hmm... what to do... what to do..." She mumbled, closing her eyes as she tried to concentrate her thoughts more. Marisa then opened her eyes wide as she remembered something, the girl having a large smile on her face as she snapped her fingers. "Aha, that's it!"

"Hmm?" Reimu and Genji responded to the blonde's sudden change in mood, the human of the two continuing further, "What are you talking about?"

"Doesn't Flower Power have some weird flower that can heal wounds an' whatnot?" Marisa asked Reimu with a confident smile on her face.

"Oh yeah... I remember that..." Reimu said, her face turning red as a blush formed from the odd thing that Yuuka did before she fought the two humans. "That was really weird."

"I know, I kinda put it out of my head as well." Marisa said, the girl looking like she would rather not talk about it before smiling again. "But nevertheless, Green Thumbs can just summon a flower to get that wound healed and we can get the icicle outta ya."

"How's about I put more icicles in her~?" Mai could be heard asking in a sing-song voice. "In fact, why don't I make you become the next target~?"

Before Marisa or Reimu could react, Genji suddenly tossed the latter over to the former with a swift vertical spin of his body. Marisa manged to catch Reimu, the shrine maiden being saved from having to fall to the ground, the two looking at Genji.

There was a flash of light where the non-human was, the light vanishing quickly to reveal Genji was completely frozen in a block of ice.

Genji fell to the ground, the turtle landing in the snow, still completely frozen in ice.

Reimu was shocked at first, the young maiden soon growling angrily as she glared at Mai, the demon nearly having completely healed from the Fantasy Seal that Reimu had used against her; even her clothes were repaired.

"Hey, who do you think you are, turning Gramps into an ice statue?!" Reimu yelled at Mai, pointing her gohei at the demon, holding out her ofuda with her other hand. "You're really making me mad! If you turn Gramps back to normal, instead of leaving him as an ice statue, I'll just seal you and not exterminate you forever!"

"That? An ice sculpture? Pfft, yeah right." Mai responded, a dismissive wave of her hand. "He's just frozen in ice, that doesn't make him and ice statue. Besides, the ice'll probably thaw eventually, and since I can tell he's supernatural, I know that he won't die from the temperature. Now, with that out of the way, it's time I showed you what the real process is to turn a living being into a frozen statue for all eternity; and you two will know first-hand as you become my next sculptures."

Mai raised an arm above her demonic form, making a light-blue sphere glow above her open palm. The sphere immediately shot out lasers every which way; even though none of them managed to hit either of the two maidens, they did graze their bodies, in which they were extremely cold. It wasn't doubted that these were somehow lasers of ice magic, especially considering Mai's abilities.

Reimu was sitting alongside Marisa as they both floated on the spellcaster's broom, the blonde flying to object around as they avoided the lasers and multiple razor-sharp snowflake-shaped danmaku that Mai was releasing, the ice demon keeping her smug grin on her face. Marisa made magic circles appear around her while Reimu focussed on her link to the Yin-Yang Orbs, the two maidens shooting danmaku that was star-shaped and holy respectively towards Mai, the demon flying out of the way most of the time, though she kept on getting hit by the two maidens' danmaku.

"So, you think that you can defeat me now?" Mai asked smugly, even though it didn't seem like the battle was in her favour, even though she got her two targets to remain close to each other and thus allowed them to fire their danmaku together, she was still confident in her victory. "It doesn't matter. In the end, humans are the insects of the worlds of demons."

There was suddenly a large explosion in the distance, a loud bang breaking through the air, being loud enough for Reimu, Marisa and Mai feel their eardrums throb in pain.

"What was that?" Mai asked, utterly flabbergasted about what just happened out of the blue.

Marisa smirked at Mai, utterly loving that the demon was no longer so smug that Marisa herself wanted to punch her right in the face. "That is Madam Mima." The blonde magician protégé said with confidence. "And she's doin' what she does best: being a master of magic and being utterly awesome at it."

* * *

Yuki was sweating as she released a large wave of fireballs that moved out in a spinning sort of motion, the demon firing lasers of pure heat as she also released fireballs towards the youkai and ghost. It seemed as though they are stronger than she expected. Far stronger, in fact. They were regularly shooting spells of fast speed and tremendous strength towards the Makai demon, Yuki could only escape the danmaku attacks by the skin of her teeth, trying everything she could to hit the ghost and youkai, but they just kept on dodging and blocking her attacks.

"You two are unreal!" Yuki yelled as she brought her fire magic to its full power, the heat around her becoming incredibly hot as she was surrounded by fires, some of the ice sculptures and snow that surrounded her had even began to melt, despite the World of Ice and Snow otherwise always being extremely cold. Yuki growled as her pressed her hands together and pointed them towards the two green-haired females, a magic circle appearing in front of her open palms. "Just give up and let me win already!"

The magic circle in front of Yuki fired even more fireballs at Mima and Yuuka, the two counterattacking with their magical danmaku.

"Hmm, it seems as though water and ice-based danmaku would work best of her. She is a fire type, after all." Yuuka commented as Yuki tried desperately to hit and defeat them, summoning magic circles that shot out lasers of fire while creating larger, stronger fireballs than before, the giant orbs of fire seemingly homing towards the two Gensokians. Yuuka just cast a red eye towards Mima. "Did you think of that, Mima?"

"Yep." Mima responded without shame, waving her sceptre around and casting a freeing spell that covered the large fireballs in ice completely, though Yuki just sent more towards the ghost and youkai. "I just didn't use them to make this more fun."

Yuki gawked at the ghost. "How dare you toy with me!" The blonde demon yelled angrily, "I am a mighty demon of Makai, even the ghosts of magicians should be afraid of me."

"Well then, it's a good thing I'm something completely different from your average magician ghost." Mima smirked, the spectre waving her sceptre high in the air, conjuring a large sphere of water, which quickly froze into ice, either as a part of the spell, or as a side effect of the World of Ice and Snow's extreme coldness. Yuki found herself stopping in her tracks, the demon unable to move her body or use her magic.

What was this? Another spell used by the ghost, or possibly the youkai?

It can't be that she... that she is paralyzed by fear... No! That is absurd! She knows how to dodge and even melt large blocks of ice like this, it should be a cakewalk for her to defeat this ghost and her equally green-haired friend.

So why can't she move?

"What's the matter? Too afraid that you now understand that you're fighting against the awesome Madam Mima?" Mima asked as she made the water orb grow as large as possible, the orb completely freezing over. Mima just snickered. "Don't worry, if I were you then I would know to be afraid of me as well~!"

Mima swung the sceptre towards Yuki, the large ice orb above her shooting towards the helpless demon, to frozen in her fear to dodge, getting hit by the large sphere as it slammed into her at high speeds. The ice sphere made a loud thud against the snow-covered ground, sitting there and becoming covered in the light snow that began to fall down from a cloud; the only cloud in Makai, possibly remaining above the World of Ice and Snow for the rest of eternity.

"My, I barely even got to do anything against her." Yuuka commented, the youkai looking at the giant sphere of ice that Mima made, presumably keeping the crushed remains of the demon there... for a limited time. Yuuka looked towards Mima, the ghost having a smirk for her easy defeat of such a weak enemy. "I guess I'll have to put my back into it when we face off against Yumeko, or Shinki. Maybe I'll have to face them by my ownsome when we go up against them."

"I wouldn't recommend Shinki, or even Yumeko for that matter, to be someone that you face on your own, unless you're about as powerful, or stronger, than the Gap Hag." Mima said, the ghost certain that _she_ wasn't watching, as there were no tears in reality that randomly appeared with a train heading right towards her. "Though it would rather be proffered to not fight them nevertheless... though I do have a bit of an axe to grind with them. With the help of my protégé and Reimu, we should defeat them."

There was a rumble where the snow covered ice orb was, an loud explosion happening as Mima and Yuuka saw a large fireball where the orb once was, glowing a bright, hot orange. Yuki was in the centre of the fireball, damage done to her clothing and cuts on her body repairing as she glared up at Mima and Yuuka.

"You shouldn't talk about facing others when you're still fighting someone in front of you!" The blonde demon said, continuing her attack of fireballs and magic circles shooting fire lasers.

"Well now, looks like you've got your chance to do more in this war." Mima said as she generated a tremendous amount of electricity around her hand, preparing a bomb of pure, destructive lightning magic. "Though you should be quick, I don't feel like pulling my punches against someone like this."

"Very well." Yuuka responded, closing he parasol and pointing it towards Yuki, shooting a vast and dense barrage of blue danmaku towards the fire demon. Yuki made the fireball around her disappear, trying to not waste her finite energy, the demon trying to fly through the danmaku that the tremendously powerful youkai kept on sending towards her. "Mima, it seems like you're charging up a powerful attack. It would be best to use it now, as she's unable to escape while trapped in my tight maze of danmaku."

"You don't need to tell me twice." Mima responded, making the lightning surrounding her hand become huge, turning into a giant cloud of thunder that cracked and sparked above her and Yuuka. Mima swung her hand towards the trapped demon, the cloud of lightning hitting Yuki, the demon having no chance as such a powerful spell was cast by someone of Mima's calibre; more importantly, Mima herself.

There was a large explosion of lightning, a bang breaking through the air, being heard throughout the World of Ice and Snow, and possibly more of Makai.

* * *

"Damn, that demon is determined, I'll give her that." Marisa noted as she used her broomstick to fly both herself and Reimu away from Mai. As the ice demon was still processing the spell that Mima used, Marisa had hit Mai with a barrage of star-shaped danmaku before flying them both away, escaping to a large area of ice sculptures. It was clear that Mai was truly stronger than the regular demon, thus she kept on regenerating from the spells Marisa used against her.

Thus now there they were, both riding Marisa's broomstick as the magician protégé flew them both to an area that was crowded with large and complex ice sculptures, the general area looking like a good place to hide from the evil and crazy demon.

Reimu looked back - the shrine maiden having her arms wrapped around Marisa's body in order to keep herself from falling off, especially with the many twists and turns that Marisa made as she flew around - worried about the attacking demon that was still after them, and about Genji, the purple-haired girl knew that he would survive, but she still worried of if he would be able to thaw out of the freeze spell Mai put him in. As her purple eyes looked back, Reimu saw a faint dot in the distance, undoubtedly Mai, the demon having recovered and already gotten back to chasing them.

"Marisa..." Reimu said, a faint tone of worry in her voice.

"Let me guess, Frosty the Snowman's crazy daughter is already after us." Marisa said without looking back, the spellcaster making more twists and turns as she started to hide in a giant ice sculpture that was a clam on its side.

"I have no idea who this Frosty the Snowman is, or how evil and powerful he is, nor about his daughter, but I can tell you that Mai is definitely after us." Reimu responded, confused about the existence of this Frosty and his evil daughter. All she cares is that if he's a threat to Gensokyo, she'll do everything in her power to stop them.

"Jeez! I really need to teach you more 'bout Outside World culture, Eggplant." Marisa responded, looking back at her holy friend with a slight glare, slamming the palm of her hand against her forehead. "Whatever, so Mai is after us, whatever. I... We can use this moment to start up a surprise attack on her. Somethin' that'll make her give up and eat her own fat words."

Reimu and Marisa suddenly felt their skin turn as cold as ice itself, an extremely cold gust of wind blowing on both of the maidens, with small fragments of ice making small cuts against their skin. Luckily, the ofuda that Reimu put on both of the maidens began to work its effects, allowing both the shrine maiden and magician protégé warm up and no longer feel like they were being frozen to death, or even just cold at all. Though they did nothing to protect them from the ice fragments of the sudden wind that came in.

Marisa flew herself and Reimu into the clam, keeping them safe from the little hail that kept on pelting them.

"Alright, this ought to keep us out of that demon's eyes for a while." Marisa said, the magician looking at her wand as she was thinking of a useful spell that would not only hit Mai, but put her out for good. "I think you can use that Fantasy Seal again, maybe this time she'll learn to stay down."

Marisa cast her eyes towards the girl next to her, the organs widening as she saw a look of uncertainty on Reimu's face, the shrine maiden looking away. Marisa paused for a moment, unsure if Reimu was like that because she was worried about her losing the battle and her life to an ice demon of all things, or if Reimu no longer wanted to fight against those of Makai.

"Hey, Eggplant the Short Maiden, is somethin' bothering you?" The magician asked, catching the attention of Reimu. The shrine maiden was shocked that she let her emotions show.

"Oh, it's nothing, Marisa." Reimu responded, trying to shrug off the conversation. "I am just worried if my hair and eyes will turn back to normal; it has been months, and there still hasn't been any changes."

"Yeah right...!" Marisa responded as she narrowed her eyes at the human. Marisa grabbed Reimu's covered arm, the magician pulling Reimu closer to her. Reimu was caught up Marisa's tight hug, the other female starring Reimu down. "Okay, I know things are off with ya; not only are you acting odd, at least for you, but you're also a pretty terrible liar and actress. So how's about you tell me what is suddenly bugging you so we can go back to fighting and show that ice bitch her true place."

"O-Okay,,, I guess I can..." Reimu started, the shrine maiden looking at the snowy ground beneath her and her friend, having to wipe away her tears before they ended up freezing against her skin. "W-Well... it's just that after we fought Alice... or someone before that... I... I have felt that we're doing something bad here. Even though these demons are poisonous to Gensokyo... it feels clear that many of them still live here, with homes and families. W-what if our attack... means that we are hurting otherwise innocent demons."

"Innocent demons? Never heard of such a concept before..." Marisa mumbled, the magician still trying to keep an eye out for Mai.

"I'm serious, Marisa." Reimu said, looking at her friend. "It... I'm not used to this sort of thing. I still know that I'm not going to let anything stop me from fighting Shinki, I can't just let her keep on sending those demons into Gensokyo. But I think this might be the first time where I'm fighting against people who could just be trying to keep themselves and those that they care about safe."

"Eh, guess you might have a point there." Marisa responded as she let go of Reimu, the shrine maiden sitting back up. "But that doesn't matter right now, 'cause I'm sure that ice demon is just callous and wants to fight and kill us for her own amusement."

"Well I'm not really subtle about it." Mai said, the demon nowhere to be seen. The ice sculpture that the two maidens were taking shelter in suddenly cracked and broke apart, letting a powerful gust of (presumably) freezing wind hit Reimu and Marisa. The cold of the wind wasn't something to fear, but within the wind was hail that was being carried and pelting Reimu and Marisa. The two maidens looked up at the ice demon, seeing her looking down at them with a malefic grin. "Say, aren't one of you the Hakurei shrine maiden? And the last of the Hakureis at that?"

"Yeah." Reimu responded, the Yin-Yang Orbs floating by her side, prepared to unleash a barrage of holy danmaku against Mai, the girl glaring at Mai. "What does it mean to you?"

"Oh, nothing much, really." Mai responded, the demon making a shrug with a grin. "It's just that I've heard a rumour that if you kill a Hakurei shrine maiden, and that maiden is the last of her bloodline, her powers of Hakurei are forcefully bequeathed onto you. I may be a strong ice demon, but imagine what I could do with those powers, especially since I'm immortal~"

Mai was suddenly hit square in the face by a giant yin-yang, the demon being pushed back by the force of the impact, her nose utterly crushed and her face broken in her head. Mai was sent spinning through the air, the demon stopping herself, her face and nose naturally regenerating through her demonic abilities. Mai blinked as her eyes repaired - the soft organs having been crushed when she was hit by the orb - seeing that Reimu and Marisa had vanished once again.

Mai growled in anger, clenching her fists so tightly that they turned pale. "Those cowards, running away once again." Mai growled, an evil smirk suddenly appearing on her face, the demon outstretching both of her arms out. The winds around the area of ice sculptures began to augment, the hail becoming more and more rapid, though there was still no evidence of either of the two humans being. "They'll show themselves. Especially when I do this~!"

Mai began to release multiple lasers from her hands, the lasers piercing through the pillars and large statures of ice, shooting every which way and sending them shattering.

Reimu and Marisa were watching the demon from out of her sight, though the pillar they were behind wasn't safe, as Mai's lasers had already cut through some of it, albeit above where the magician and her shrine maiden friend sitting on her broomstick.

"I think she's startin' to get off her rocker." Marisa commented, waving her wand around to make a small shield around the two humans on the broomstick to protect them from the hail. Marisa looked towards Reimu. "Alright, just get her off guard, and then unleash a Fantasy Seal on her. And even if your big damn holy explosion doesn't beat her, I'll give her a few good stars to finally make her give up."

"I guess that sounds like a good idea." Reimu responded, the girl looking towards Mai and glaring. "I can definitely tell that she isn't one of the innocent demons, so I won't regret what I do to her."

"Aight, get ready for this then. You're gonna be sent flyin'" Marisa responded, the girl clasping at the tip of her broomstick. The otherwise ordinary item shot forwards, towards Mai as she wasn't looking - shooting lasers blindly. Without warning, Marisa suddenly stopped, pressing down on the tip, making the front dip downwards. Reimu was sent flying off the broom, airborne and rushing through the air, towards the ice demon. Reaching into her sleeve, Reimu pulled out an ofuda, charging her holy energy into the paper charm.

"Where are you, insects~?" Mai asked in a sing-song voice, the blue-haired turning around, her eyes widening in utter confusion and shock upon seeing one of them flying towards her. "What the fu-?!"

"Fantasy Seal!" Reimu yelled, unleashing the holy yin-yang.

* * *

He shivered, the skin of his vessel freezing. He let out a shaky breath. Technically, he is a being that has no real form or body, merely incorporeal. How that demon was able to successfully freeze him is a surprise, and how it was able to freeze even his mind was also a surprise.

But as long as Reimu is safe, then he is content.

…Wait, how is he aware of what was going on?

The world was in ripples, blurry colours that bounced around without solidity. Taking shape, the colours turned into Reimu, Marisa and the World of Ice and Snow, the two maidens looking at the hoy creature, the same non-human unable to stop his shivering from the cold ice that surrounded him.

Marisa smiled. "I knew that fire spell would thaw him." The girl said pridefully, leaning back on her broomstick as it floated beside her, her arms crossed behind her back. "It's a good thing you were paired with someone who knows more than a few cheap tricks for her magic."

"Uh huh, uh huh, I know. You're awesome and all that." Reimu responded with a bored wave of her hand, the girl then looking happily at Genji. "Are you now better, Gramps?"

"I am fine, Lady Reimu. Regardless of how cold I was within that cube of ice, or for how long I was in there, I would still survive nevertheless." Genji responded. The turtle then squinted his eyes as he looked at the two maidens, seeing that not only was the long piece of ice still in Reimu's arm (at least it seemed to block snow from entering the wound... or so Genji hoped), but the two girls were covered in bruises. "I'm more worried about you two, you look like you just went through a hail storm while I was frozen."

"Technically, we were." Reimu responded. The shrine maiden looked at the small, purple patches on her skin, the girl letting out a little chuckle. "It seems like Mai didn't go down without a fight. At least we defeated her in the end."

"Yeah, it's nothin'." Marisa agreed, once again looking smug and proud of her achievement. "What we did Ice Cube there was far worse than what she ever got the chance to do to us. 'Sides, we can just get Flower Power to heal us, and this time we won't have to worry out ol' Snowy Crazy popping out like a Whac-A-Mole."

"Please stop, I don't get your crazy Outside World references." Reimu asked.

"Yeah, _you_ don't get 'em, but _they_ ought to." Marisa responded brazenly. Reimu gave Marisa a confused look, the magician letting out an annoyed huff. "Don't act like you're out of the loop, you were the first one to break through that wall like that livin' pitcher of red juice. You know enough who _they_ are."

"Will anyone even get _that_ reference?" Reimu asked flatly.

Genji just chuckled at the two maidens, causing Reimu to aim her flat stare towards him while Marisa just chuckled along with her.

* * *

"Honestly, if I had even the slightest of expectation for you, then I would be disappointed." Mima said as she held the unconscious Yuki by the back of her dress' neckline. The blonde demon herself was, as said earlier, unconscious, most of her clothes were torn and damaged while also covering certain areas of her body. Her body was covered in many wounds that had yet to heal; coated in blood that made her hair and remaining clothing stick to her skin like glue. Mima let out a faint snort, the ghost merely letting go of the neckline and letting the demon drop into the snow. Mima turned around to towards Yuuka. "I think it's time we searched for the other weakling, as well as my protégé and Reimu."

"We have no need to look for either Dandelion or Pansy, because they are coming right here, along with Genji." The youkai responded, pointing towards somewhere in the distance. "Look, see?"

Mima did indeed look, seeing that the two humans were coming towards the green-haired women on top of their respective flying objects. Mima and Yuuka widened their eyes as they saw the damage on Reimu and Marisa, the two humans covered in bruises like children with a severe case of chickenpox, and the former even had an icicle in her arm that was slowly melting.

"Goodness! What happened here?" Yuuka exclaimed. Yuuka's demeanour suddenly changed from shocked and worried to happy and casual, the youkai making many lotus flowers appear in the air, the little flowers pouring a familiar golden liquid on the two girls, being absorbed into their skin, making their bruises and other wounds disappear. Reimu pulled out the icicle, the gash on her arm also closing and healing from the magical liquid. "There, much better."

"So I guess the quiet one was more fun than that fire demon, huh?" Mima asked.

"She definitely wasn't quiet when we got her away from that firecracker." Marisa responded, looking a little miffed before smiling again. "But it doesn't matter, 'cause Eggplant and I kicked her ass~!"

"Ah, that is good, that is very good." Mima responded approvingly.

Yuki suddenly rose from the snow, the demon and her clothing still damaged, though she was in a noticeably battered state. She let out a pained groan as she rubbed her temple, looking around the World of Ice and Snow from where she sat.

"Very good...?" Yuki mumbled, having apparently heard Mima, albeit not completely. Reimu, Genji, Marisa, Yuuka and Mima looked down at the blonde demon. "What is very good? Did we win against the Gensokians?"

"Why would I call _my_ defeat a good thing?" Mima asked as she crossed her arms over her spectral chest, the ghost suddenly letting out a laugh. "No, what I called a good thing was that my protégé managed to defeat your demon friend.

"W-what?!" Yuki exclaimed, the demon climbing out of the snow and immediately flying away, no doubt to look for her friend. Reimu felt the need to tell Yuki what Mai is really like, but she decided to just swallow that thought. It would be pointless, especially at this point. She most likely wouldn't even believe Reimu, proving the former point even further. "Maaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…!"

"So how was she?" Marisa asked, casually pointing to where Yuki disappeared off to with her thumb. "Was she hard, or was she easy?"

"A lot more towards the latter." Mima responded. "Now c'mon, the longer we wait here, the more demons of Makai could invade Gensokyo. We've already been very gung-ho about finding and defeating Shinki, so there is no point in just flying here and talking."

And with that, they were off again, heading straight towards the gates of Pandemonium, blasting into the castle without trouble...

Unaware of what challenge faces them along the hall.

* * *

She felt something all around her. More particularly all over her; not quite heavy, but not light either. Mai sat right up, getting the snow off her clothes and out of her hair, the demon even spitting out some snow. The demon sat there, processing what happened; she was firing down the ice sculptures, then she saw that Hakurei maiden, and then...

Mai widened her eyes, the demon letting out an angry and annoyed growl before she slammed her hands against the snow, releasing some of her magic, covering some of the snow around her in ice.

"Damn those two humans...! Damn them both to a life of misfortune and misery!" Mai growled with clenched fists, the demon eventually calming down. "No matter. Either they get killed by Yumeko or Shinki or someone else, thus earning their karmic retribution, or they manage to defeat Shinki. I guess I can call either outcome a win."

Mai then picked up a sound in the distance, the sound becoming louder and louder as the source came closer. The ice demon started to recognise the sound, letting out an annoyed growl as she recognised who it was.

"Great, it's the annoying firecracker once again. Better put my façade back on." Mai grumbled, the demon taking in a deep breath through her nostrils, before letting it out calmly, and regaining her calm and shy guise. "Yukiiiiiiii! I'm over hereeeeeee!"

Yuki then appeared through the faint mist, the demon rushing towards her friend and hugging her upon sight. The hug was tight, and Mai honestly wanted to just impale the blonde for it, but the ice demon just hugged the woman back for the sake of her façade.

"Oh Mai, are you okay?" Yuki asked with tears in her eyes, looking straight at the ice demon. "I heard that they beat you up. I-I was so worried. I tried my best to defeat the ghost and the youkai, but th-they were just too strong for me. If it was just me against one of them at a time, I would have won. I'm sooooooo sorrrrrrrrrrrry…!"

Yuki's tearful babbling began to become nothing more than incomprehensible sounds, the blonde demon rubbing her face into Mai's chest, getting it covered in her tears. Mai looked away in disgust as she was certain that Yuki was no longer looking at her, the ice demon knowing that she would have to force on a comforting face. Mai gently removed Yuki's face from her chest, showing the blonde demon that mask of comfort.

"It's okay." Mai cheered with a soft voice, all faked because of the persona that she has to keep alive. "What matters is that we're both alright. And I know that either Yumeko or Lady Shinki will defeat those humans, they're both practically undefeatable, especially if they were to team up together."

"Y-yeah, you're right." Yuki said, doing a pumping a gesture with both of her arms, a suddenly triumphant smile on her face. "Even if we've failed to protect Our Goddess, she'll surely be able to blast them all into nothing more but a pile of atoms, even the ghost. Oh... I just hope that Lady Shinki will forgive us."

"You know, in one of the other worlds, the world of humans, there is a religion where there is one god, and that god will forgive you as long as you repent for your sins." Mai said. "Or something like that, what's the point in learning about other gods when you already have one as your ruler?"

"Yeah, good reason." Yuki agreed happily. The demon suddenly made a serious face. "But those other Gensokians are still attacking, aren't they? We gotta go and stop them with the others. We could beat those other Gensokians, and maybe Lady Shinki will forgive us quicker."

"That is a good idea." Mai lied, giving Yuki an encouraging smile.

"You're right~!" Yuki said as she floated in the air, the fire demon shooting off towards the area of the Capital that the rest of the Gensokians were at. "C'mon, Mai!"

Mai made a disgusted expression, sticking out her tongue like she just tasted something awful, before regaining her calm expression again and flying after her 'friend'. At the very least, maybe taking the lives of those other Gensokians will give her some catharsis.

* * *

 **I'm just going to get to the point and say this: I'm sorry.**

 **I know this chapter took a lot longer than any of the previous chapters have to come out. I honestly don't know what happened, I just like gained a big increase in procrastination, and it has been annoying me to an extent, because I want to write like normal, but I've been finding myself to end up writing less, for some reason. It's mostly just annoying procrastination.**

 **As for this chapter... I'm not quite sure what happened. I intended to make Mai and Yuki come off as stronger than the previous demons, but I still needed to keep them from being too strong, as Yumeko, Shinki and Ex Alice are meant to be even stronger.**

 **The previous few paragraphs above are meant to set up the next chapter (or a few) as they are meant to be more chapters that are focussed around the other characters, especially since they are all left on their own little cliffhangers since their last appearances.**

 **Don't think that Mai's comment about Yumeko and Shinki fighting the quartet is foreshadowing; if I got those two to fight the four heroines all at once, the 'battle' would probably be five-to-ten paragraphs Curb-Stomp Battle.**

 **Hopefully I'll get over this increased procrastination soon and get back to my regular update schedule. I take all the blame for any problems with this chapter.**

 **All reviews, even ones of constructive criticism, are accepted and appreciated.**


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